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The sky-team is engaging Skrull aerial defenses, which consists of automated turrets and Skrull drones. Phoenix is doing most of the work.

There is a sound like a thunderclap that echoes over the din of battle.

Not a thunderclap. A sonic boom.

He's here.

Hyperion immediately dives on the Avengers. Hulk jumps on him and gets backhanded away, and is sent flying backwards into a building.

Hyperion then puts his fist through Rogers' chest, killing him instantly.

Thor screams in anguish, and hurls Mjolnir at Hyperion. The hammer strikes him, knocking him down to his knees. Thor calls the hammer back, and dives at Hyperion, who turns around and flies into an uppercut, sending Thor away into the sky.

Hyperion flies up to pursue, bringing him into view the rest of the sky team.

Still steaming from the plasma cannon, Machine Man fires at Hyperion full blast. The shot knocks Hyperion off-balance, putting him in Behemoth’s path.

Behemoth blasts Hyperion, who puts his palm up to cover himself. He flies at Behemoth, and eventually palms Behemoth's face. He then starts pounding into Behemoth's side, smashing and bending the Uru metal of his body.

The Phoenix plucks Hyperion off Behemoth with its fiery beak and whips him into the ground with a shattering smash.

The Phoenix then blasts the crater with psionic fire.

Over the flames, they can hear Hyperion scream as he tries to blast back with his eye beams, but the Phoenix is winning.

The console is connected to an anti-grav lift that leads into the Project.

"This way.” Vlad leads the team up to the console hacks it. He activates the lift that leads into the Project. As the lift descends to their level, he scans the available information.

It is a super-weapon, an energy source beyond anything the Skrulls imagined, a living weapon and battery that the Skrulls will use to defeat their enemies and conquer not just Earth, but the entire universe.

Its power is seemingly infinite, and is linked to the Celestials itself.

They discovered it a few years ago, when they first wreaked havoc on the Earth. It awoke in response, and challenged the Skrulls. They were able to defeat it, at great cost, and now they harvest its gigantic form and Celestial-originated technology for their own purposes.

Its name is En Sabah Nur... the Apocalypse.

"Monsters..." Vlad whispers.

The platform arrives at the gigantic humanoid, which is suspended by a complex array technology in the middle of the tower.

Elise stares in a mixture of horror and awe. "What...is it?"

"A being of ancient and immense power." Vlad tells the team his findings.

Reed stares at it. "Incredible.... it would stand to reason that such a being exists on our world too. Undiscovered."

Elise steps closer to its organic form. She Elise senses pain, anger, humiliation, sorrow, vengeance. This creature doesn't want to be here. It hates the Skrulls. It wants to destroy them. It wants to be free.

"How do we free you?" she murmurs.

Vlad narrows his eyes. He looks at Clay.

Clay nods. "I can try to communicate telepathically with it." He puts his hand against his temple.

Clay gasps and snorts. He staggers backwards and falls to his knees. He opens his eyes and they are black.

"Clay!" Elise kneels at his side, offering him support. "Are you...?"

"I am free."

That is not Clay's voice.

"No, no, no, we want you to be free, but you can't take that body, you can't -"

“Clay” walks over to the console. He looks at Vlad. "Stand aside."

"En Sabah Nur." Vlad gazes at the being in Clay’s body. "What is your goal?" He does not step aside.

"Vengeance. I will make right what has been wronged."

Elise returns to “Clay's” side. "Look, we are anti-Skrull, we are on your side. But you can't take Clay's body and you can't - we have people in the tower, we have to keep them safe -"

"I know all that this one knows. Stand aside and let me claim myself."

"You will bring no harm to us or our allies or the Skrulls who fight with us. You will release the Director upon completion. Only the Enemy will be destroyed. Do you agree?" Vlad stands.

He looks at Vlad, directly in the eye.

"You stare into the essence of change and the inevitability of survival and you are unflinching, not because you are a machine but because of your will.

"You are found worthy. I agree to your terms."

"Then so be it." Vlad steps aside.

Elise takes some deep breaths, clearly terrified. "Okay!"

He enters commands into the console, and the tower’s machinery begins to disconnect from the colossal body. Some of the armor pieces that were being removed are reattached, and it begins to shift in shape, reducing in size to something more human-scale, although fairly tall.

One of the cranes it is attached to deposits the body onto the platform, and with that, Clay's eyes roll back and he collapses with a gasp.

Elise moves back to Clay, offering him support. He gets back up after shaking his head a few times. "Ungh... ack...."

The body steps off the crane, made whole, and stands before them.

Vlad freeing every random thing he ever found was going to have to come to a bad end eventually. This is Apocalypse, one of the X-Men’s most major foes and the first and most powerful mutant ever born on Earth, with a direct connection to the Celestials.

Victorious steps forward and offers a hand to the Apocalypse. En Sabah Nur looks down at Vlad's hand, and looks at Vlad for a moment, before grasping his hand and shaking it.

"I thought," Elise muttered to Clay. "It'd be, like, a baby. Like MODOC or something. Not a huge unsympathetic dick God-King or whatever."

En Sabah Nur speaks up, his booming voice echoing. "We must destroy the core. There is a power core that must be destroyed. It will detonate this tower and kill all inside, destroy all of the technology stolen from me here. And their leaders must not survive."

"...No one put you in charge here, you know," Elise says.

"The leaders first, and then the core,” Clay says. “Away, now."

Apocalypse stares at Clay, then at Elise. "Do you wish to challenge me, child?"

"Enough of this," Vlad says.

"I am the rocks of the eternal shore. Crash against me and be broken."

Vlad steps between Sensate and Apocalypse. He stares into his eyes. "Enough."

Vlad steps forward. "Her name is Susan. Say it." Reed looks at Vlad quizzically, but then nods in approval.

Morrat looks bewildered. "How...how is this possible? We...we slew our youngers and took their place. I...I chose not to have children...but you're not...you're not the human Susan Storm, you're my daughter...I can sense it.

"Were you also caught in the time-bubble? But...that...how would Reed Richards be here?"

"We let you escape twice now, Morrat,” Vlad says. “There will be no more chances."

Susan nods at Vlad. "You destroyed the world, father."

Blacksmith stares with terror at En Sabah Nur, but the Apocalypse is saying nothing, his arms folded, allowing this to go on. Like he's satisfied with their mute horror.

While everyone speaks, Elise sneaks around the back, hoping to remain beneath the notice of both the Skrulls and En Sabah Nur.

Clay looks at Vlad, and steps forward. "We're here because everything you have hoped to accomplish is a failure." His voice changes on the word failure, from his English accent and the familiar tones, to something else.

A voice Vlad has heard, when Clay got angry with him recently. His older voice. As Clay changes into the face of Z'Reg.

Paibok shrieks. "No! Impossible! I slew you with my own hand!"

At that moment of maximum surprise, Elise fires.

Paibok gets shot in the head and drops to the ground. Morrat and Blacksmith look stunned, and En Sabah Nur obliterates Blacksmith with a gesture, turning him to ash.

Morrat tries to drop his weapons "S'ryen! Please! I'm your father!" He sinks to his knees.

Susan holds up her hand and makes a fist, and clenches her jaw, but her lip quivers. She looks at Vlad. "I... I can't."

"I know." Vlad turns his gaze from Susan, opens his hand, and, without looking at Morrat, blasts a hole through his chest. Morrat flops to the ground, dead.

En Sabah Nur steps in front of the group. "It is done… It was...so easy. And you are...so powerful…

"The situation has evolved." He looks at the assembled group. "The world has changed. Time for you to change with it."

"What?" Elise backs away.

"I will be taking my rightful place, the place these aliens denied me when I awoke. I will need those to speak of my coming to the corners of the globe. Horsemen to speak my message and bring this world to heel."

Clay looks at Vlad. "Vlad, he never worked for the Skrulls willingly. Never. Not when he attacked you. Not in Kazan. In Kazan I cleared the Skrull garbage out of his head, which is why he left.

"He's had as much an axe to grind with Leviathan as any of us. Possibly more."

Vlad looks at Clay, Susan, Elise and everyone.

He looks at Hyperion, "You broke me....." He drops his gaze a moment, then brings it up again. "Apologise."

Hyperion looks Vlad in the eye. "I do. I'm sorry. I don't know how much it means. I will never stop being sorry for any of the things they made me do. I've lived on this world for a hundred years. For a hundred years I tried to stop them. And I failed.

"I... I want to go home. If you'll let me."

Clay receives a call over his communicator. He looks back at the team. "Everyone...we've...won. It's over. Korvac's picking people up and bringing the Chariot over here."

He sends a comm signal to the sky and ground team to meet inside the top of the tower. The Skrulls are evacuating the tower and aren't putting up a fight. They know the day is lost.

Miles flies through the hole in the window. He surveys the scene. The piles of ash. A different Hyperion. "...Jesus."

"Called: By Rabum Alal. Take Position: In Parliament. Take: Lineage, All Worlds: Represented,"

The Parliament of Vladimirs… Julian thinks.

Miles shakes his head. Of Dooms. Of infinite Dooms.

"Are you offering peace for our world?" Vlad says, fists still clenched as he faces the Archons.

"Called: By Rabum Alal," the second Archon repeats, as it grasps Vlad by the shoulder.

Vlad sees everything. A flurry of images blasts through his digital mind.

Infinite cosmos, a litany of worlds bending the knee before the Parliament and those who sit upon it, all who kneel before Rabum Alal.

Who is Rabum Alal? Vladimir can feel his mind seeking the answer.

He looks into stars and planets and black holes and sees it looming over him in an infinite span of space and time.

Julian stares. Good lord. The Council...and the Parliament...It couldn't be more perfect.

Vlad drops to his knee. "I...." he stammers. He begins to rise, slowly. He starts to laugh. Quietly at first, but then rising in volume to booming laughter. "Ahhahahahah! Muhahahahaha! Yes!" Vlad spins to face everyone assembled, his cloak flowing behind him. "You see?! You see, don't you?!" He continues to laugh. "He calls upon me! It is convergence!" He raises both his hands, palms facing the sky. As he claps them shut, they glow with a new energy. "No more searching. No more teachers. No more lessons. No more confusion. No reliance. No fear. Only Power. Only Doom."

Before he can even give it a second thought, Vlad creates a new consciousness template and deletes the TABULA RASA PROTOCOL. In its place is the VICTORIOUS PROTOCOL.

Everyone hears this happen as Victorious calls out his actions and reboots. The light in his eyes dims a second and returns, brighter. Energy and bolts of arcane lighting emanate from his body, a shroud of pale blue covers his form.

"I AM REBORN IN THE GAZE OF RABUM ALAL!"

Victorious looks upon his team. "It is done. Go back to my world and tend to my people. I journey now to my true Father, the Doom Above All."

Victorious catches Elise’s wrist as she reaches out to him. He holds her arm and looks into her eyes. His gaze shifts from her face to the bracelet hanging from her wrist. He cocks his head at it. He looks down at the matching bracelet on his arm.

He lets go of her arm and takes off his bracelet. He looks at her once again and then drops the bracelet at her feet. "Vladimir is gone. I am Victorious Von Doom." He turns. Elise stares in shock at the dropped bracelet as he goes.

Miles steps forward. "You've come full circle. Back to being a slave."

Victorious stops and begins to turn.

Elise throws herself at the back of her friend's legs as he stops. "I'm not letting them take you!"

Clay steps forward. "Enough of this. Vladimir…there is a light at the watchtower, it guides the way."

Victorious can feel something in his system. Something trying to assert control. A VI.

But the VI was keyed to the Tabula Rasa Protocol, not the new Victorious Protocol. And armed with the...information that the Parliament has given him, Victorious purges the VI as easily as a human takes a cleansing breath, and with as much thought.

"FOOLS!" Victorious spins to face the gaze of the group. Clay freezes. Susan rushes to Elise, holding her in a hug.

"I gave you the charge of protecting my world and you assault me further?! No. Now punishment." Victorious narrows his eyes and looks at the Archons. "Send me to my Father..." Victorious stops. Points at Hyperion. "And kill that one."

The Archons nod. Hyperion clenches his fists.

"You've gone insane,” Elise is crying. “You're gone fucking insane."

"Fucking hypocrite coward," Michael spits out.

The Archons open a portal. Victorious steps through.

He's gone, and the portal closes behind him. The two Archons remain, standing in a combative pose and looking at Hyperion.

"What the fuck," Julian breathes.

Miles faces the Archons. "We know who you are. We know your secret. This is your one chance.” He points at where Victorious went. “Run after him."

Hyperion looks at the group "Go. Just... go." He takes off at supersonic speed out the window. The Archons turn and take off, giving chase.

Elise is frozen, letting Susan contain her. She's still staring at the cheap plastic bracelet on the ground. Susan holds Elise tightly. She's crying, and whispering. "Listen to me, we won't let this happen. When we get back, we'll go to Victor, just you and me. He won't let this happen. He won't let these people take his son."

Elise slowly nods.

The building shakes with the sound of the massive engines of the Chariot as it sails over the tower.

"This is ridiculous. Vlad spent this whole time obsessed with murdering Hyperion and now...what? We just let it happen?" Miles’ voice is cracking. "Clay. Call Hyperion. Tell him to join us on the Chariot. We need him on our world. We've got a whole....multiverse...of Doctor Dooms to stop now."

Miles points. "Julian. Help Clay." He turns to the Richards couple. "Susan. Reed. Do you understand what happened here? What we're facing?"

Reed nods solemnly. "I do. When we get back to our world, there's something I can do. I can find a way to defeat them."

Miles nods. "Whatever you do, Dr. Richards, I want to be a part of it. I think we all do. This is personal now."

Elise stumbles to her feet. She picks up the purple, plastic bracelet and puts it in one of her pockets. Swaying slightly, she takes its counterpart off her wrist and stores it with its mate. She pats the pocket containing both bracelets comfortingly.

One hand to his temple, Clay reaches for Julian. "Give me a...power boost, if you can. Without turning my head into a quiche."

"Yeah... Yeah, okay," Julian says.

"I've had enough of that today," Clay says.

"I figure that part goes without saying." Julian takes Clay’s hand.

Clay is squinting, and then his eyes shoot open. "...oh wow, he's uh... asking us to hold on." He pauses. "Apparently he's throwing them into the sun and he's asked us to 'give him a minute.'"

"Good," Elise snarls.

"....Oh.” Miles’ eyebrows climb his forehead. “I was worried they were going to murder him."

The team loads up into the Chariot. Clay does a brief check in with Korvac and all the other teams.

Miles goes up to Elise and puts a hand on her shoulder. "You made him better than he was supposed to be," he says quietly. "You made a difference. Don't forget that."

"Okay." she says, quietly.

She can hear Reed and Susan arguing in whispers on the other side of the cabin. "You understand the threat we are under now, Susan. Not just that the Council presents to our son, but now, the Parliament? What they just took from you?"

"...yes, but..."

"What is it going to take? How much needs to be at risk? How much needs to be lost?"

Elise looks at them hesitantly. Then she slides over. "I... I don't mean to... I mean, I don't want to intervene. Is this about...the helmet?"

Reed scowls at Elise. Susan nods.

"I just... I don't think you should do anything that makes you... closer to them. You don't have to do this alone, Dr. Richards. I don't think any of us should try to do that, anymore. That's...probably better. Than a helmet."

Susan looks at Elise, and then looks at Reed.

Reed sighs. "You're right, I suppose." He walks away, lips pursed.

After he does so, Susan grabs Elise in a big hug and whispers "Thank you."

Elise hugs her back. "We'll look out for each other," she whispers. "We'll fix this. I got your back, I promise."

Miles watched as Elise wandered over to the Richardses. He can't hear what's being said, or he chooses not to eavesdrop with his powers, but he purses his lips appreciatively at the fact that Elise seems to have said something calming that both of the couple agreed with.

He goes to find Carol. He needs a shoulder of his own right now.

Captain Marvel is talking with Scott Lang, who has his head in his hands. She looks like she's consoling him. She looks up at Miles, and pats Scott on the shoulder.

Miles gives her a nod. He doesn't want to interrupt anything.

Scott nods. "Thanks, Cap." He looks over at Miles. "Hey." He walks away. Miles nods at him as he passes, then goes to join Carol.

She leans back. "Whew. That was...awful. Poor Scott."

"What happened?"

"Turns out on this Earth, Scott Lang was an agent of Leviathan that stole Hank Pym's technology for the Skrulls. We didn't encounter the guy or anything, but just finding it out kinda messed Scott up a bit."

Miles nods. "Yeah. I've told you about meeting my doppelganger on Inhuman Earth. It was a gut punch. If he needs to talk, you can tell him to come to me."

He takes her hand and heaves a long sigh that turns throaty, almost into a moan of anguish.
"I messed up, Carol. I let the team down."

"What happened?" She's genuinely concerned.

"Vlad. What else?" Miles' face twists in a mordant grimace. "He finally did it. He crossed the line. The Parliament showed up after the battle. Couple of their...Archons, or whatever those are called.

“It turns out that they're all of the Dr. Dooms of the multiverse, working together. How fucked up is that. And finding that out was all it took. He joined them. He told the Parliament to kill Hyperion and he stepped through a portal and that was it."

Miles' hands clench and unclench. "And it's all so stupid. We all saw it coming and that didn't help at all, in the end. Elise is a wreck. I just...I keep going back over everything I've done in the last six months. I made a mistake somewhere. I don't know where, but I should have been able to....I should have...."

Carol hugs Miles. "No," she says. "Do not do this. Don't retrospect."

He hugs her back. "But this was my second chance. I lost a team once. This was...I was going to be better."

"Miles, we just saved the world. A world, anyway. Yes, you lost someone. You had a casualty. And that casualty was due to that person's own actions. And that hurts. It may never stop hurting. But what you can't do is second guess what you could have done. Or think your second chance is used up.

"We've both knocked on death's door, and thought, this was it, this is where I punch my ticket... and that's what I did with my life? I...I blew it. And then circumstances came along and gave us something else to do with it. You have this." She taps Miles in the chest, about where his energy crystal is.

"And I have this." She generates a bit of cosmic energy. "But what we don't get to have is regret."

Miles nods, slowly. Her words feel like sunlight breaking through the fog. "....So we just move on and try to do better, huh? No self-pity?

“Man, this good guy stuff is a racket." He smiles crookedly at her.

And in his mind, he thinks maybe Vlad was right about one thing. He never wants to ever feel as helpless as he did today.

On the other side of the plane, Elise has rejoined the rest of Freedom Force. "Rough day." she says, and offers Behemoth, Clay, and Julian a joint.

Clay accepts. Turns out Clay knows how to puff-puff-pass, too.

Elise begins. "So, I was uh. I'm doin' some thinkin'. Of course I'm not, I'm not just done with like...Vlad. Forever. In theory, right? But I can't...keep waiting for him. If he wants to run off, I gotta...That's his..." Elise gestures widely, vaguely. "Uh. Y'all are still gonna be there at the wedding, yeah? Not the Attilan version. Maybe not a good idea for Clay to go to that one."

Clay nods.

"For sure," Julian nods.

"We'll be there," Michael says.

Hyperion lands on the Chariot. He enters the vehicle through an airlock.

Jenny just...kinda stares at him. He looks at her, briefly, while trying not to.

Elise looks at him, looks at Jenny, and then takes a loooooong draw on the joint.
And then a couple more. She's blatantly violating puff puff pass protocol.

Julian waits expectantly for a moment before pulling out a cigarette case, gingerly pulling out a carefully wrapped joint and lighting it.

I like that the power of the Phoenix Force is sufficient to bring weed back from the dead.

Elise watches him. "Yeah, I know, I've had a fuckin' day."

He takes a long draw and passes it along to Clay again.

"...I can't believe he dropped the bracelet,” Elise says. “I dunno if we can even get him back. I gotta...try. But it's not the same. Not the same as last time."

Julian exhales. "I know." He croaks. "It really sucks."

Korvac calls out to the crew "Alright, everyone's aboard. Here we go...."

Those of you who felt like this situation had to come to a head soon were, of course, correct. The situation that Vlad was in with the team was untenable; it had to resolve one way or another. Like, roleplaying our characters honestly would have meant either fighting him at some point or just refusing to be on a team with him.

But Vlad’s player, Jake, wasn’t sure for a long time which way it was going to be. So every time Vlad seemed to break bad, he got another moment where he was unexpectedly protective of Susan or Franklin, or where he tried to put his actions into some kind of acceptable context. I think the end result works pretty well! He’s a complicated character, and his villainous motivation, his grasping need for power and control, is mostly an unconscious one right up until the final revelation.

Remember when I said that that failed roll for the Cosmic Cube was one of the most important single die rolls in the game? It was only at that point that Jake conclusively decided that Vlad was going to become a villain. He felt like the humiliation that Vlad felt, and his resentment of everyone’s reaction, would be what finally pushed him over the edge. But once he realized that about the character, he contacted Matt privately and explained where things stood and they collaborated behind the scenes to give us the moment you read here.

So Victorious is still around, but is now an NPC, and like all good villains you can be sure he will return to trouble STRIKE from time to time.

Corona intones "Sir, we've arrived in orbit over Earth, Nebula's last known whereabouts."

Ryann sits up from his captain’s chair, letting out a long yawn as he leans forward. He had passed out for the last three hours of his journey, listening to Earth music from his personal store.

"Corona, cut the music." He stands up. "Bring it up on screen." Ryann stretches his arms way out from his sides and yawns again.

Corona displays Earth, and begins listing off facts up about the planet. "Nick Fury, the Director of this planet's covert intelligence, has made contact and acted on behalf of their governments to agree to Protectorate status," Corona concludes.

"Welcome to the big leagues, kiddos.” He scratches his chin and steps away from his chair.

"...there is a condition, sir."

Ryann cocks his head as he walks to the back of his ship and into his kitchen. He grabs a drink. "Condition? Like what?" He closes the fridge with his hip and opens the bottle of alcohol he grabbed. He takes a sip

"Because Earth is a Grade-6 Primitive World, your activities must be kept covert among the native populace. As part of the agreement to Protectorate status, you have been assigned to the command of a local law enforcement and intelligence division, which Nova-Prime has ordered you to co-operate with and report back on the activities of.

"They are known as the Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies, or STRIKE. Apparently the agencies of this planet are fond of backronyms."

Ryann flops back down in his chair, spins 360 degrees, then stops. "Nova-Prime signed off on this?" He raises a eyebrow in surprise.

"Yes. It was considered diplomatically expedient."

He sighs. He takes another swig.

"Those were her exact words, sir."

"I'll bet.” He shakes his head. “Tanak had something to do with this placement, I know it." He rolls his eyes. "Alright, well, set a course to the 'Peak.'" He shakes his head once again and starts to bring up his personal music store list in the viewscreen.

Before Elise launches, she offers Vlad a high five. Vlad just takes off.

What the fuck

Victorious catches Elise’s wrist as she reaches out to him. He holds her arm and and looks into her eyes. His gaze shifts from her face to the bracelet hanging from her wrist. He cocks his head at it. He looks down at the matching bracelet on his arm.

He lets go of her arm and takes off his bracelet. He looks at her once again and then drops the bracelet at her feet. "Vladimir is gone. I am Victorious Von Doom." He turns. Elise stares in shock at the dropped bracelet as he goes.

Well yah, that's what he would say. I'm wondering what the Parliament's judgement was, which is likely to much more insightful (Maybe not necessarily accurate, but the outsider perspective adds something to the proceedings)

Well yah, that's what he would say. I'm wondering what the Parliament's judgement was, which is likely to much more insightful (Maybe not necessarily accurate, but the outsider perspective adds something to the proceedings)

I'm guessing we may never actually know.

No Doom is going to admit to being the one that didn't make the cut in the eyes of another Doom. And any Doom worthy of the name isn't going to change that story regardless of what interrogation techniques you'd care to bring to the table.
Whether the Parliament rejected 1491 Doom, or it was the other way around, you'd hear the same story from whatever Doom you asked: "The other Doom wasn't Doom enough to hang with Doom, so Doom asked Doom to do his Doctor Dooming elsewhere."

Of course, the real reason they went their separate ways is that Doom couldn't get the doom song right.
Which Doom though? The multiverse may never know.

Operation Scalpel Outcomes
The mission to Earth-462 has been determined to be an overwhelming success. The Skrulls that ruled that world have been thoroughly routed, with their leadership slain and their central computer network destabilized and compromised. Their forces are being routed by a combination of Earth-462’s SHIELD-led resistance and Attilan’s army.

The mission was not without casualties. Several Earth-462 personnel were lost, including Earth-462’s Steve Rogers who was KIA. However, all Earth-1491 personnel (with one exception) were accounted for at the end of the mission, and the single MIA loss incurred is considered not directly related to the mission itself so SHIELD EXEC is considering the mission successful.

Going forward, ARMOR will continue to have periodic contact with Earth-462 to assist in rebuilding efforts. Earth-462 still has a lot of recovery ahead of it, and other dangers beyond the Skrulls, but ultimately we have assisted in saving an entire world from a slow decline into its own oblivion and SHIELD Director Nick Fury would like to issue a congratulations to all personnel involved.

STRIKE Personnel Changes
Due to the events of Operation Scalpel, there will be some personnel changes at STRIKE going forward. Agent Vladimir Von Doom has been declared AWOL and MIA, his security clearance revoked and officially is to be treated as a hostile foreign agent at this time to be approached with non-lethal subdual force if at all possible. Given Agent Von Doom’s significant capabilities and current allegiance with the Parliament, unless under express orders, retreat immediately and make contact with STRIKE Director Quartermain if he is encountered in the field. Do not engage.

Furthermore, Agent Peter Parker has decided to leave the agency. He has relinquished his equipment and has decided to go back to being a costumed vigilante. STRIKE wishes him the best in his future endeavors.

Agent Jennifer Munroe has stepped down as team leader of STRIKE Field Team 3, and will instead be a member of the team filling Parker’s vacated position.

In her stead, STRIKE would like to welcome SHIELD Agent Marcus Milton back from his extended MIA. Agent Milton is a SHIELD veteran and, like Agent Munroe one of the original members of the first Avengers Initiative. He will be the team leader of STRIKE-3 going forward.

While Agent Robert Childan is on extended absence to conduct an undercover operation, COMMS Agent Vincent Jarvis will continue to fill his position on the team.

Action Pack Debuts
While Operation Scalpel was ongoing, Roxxon’s Action Pack group made their debut. They simultaneously ran a live broadcast on a television station that Roxxon partially owns as one of their media conglomerate investments, and streamed their mission live online. Both were some of the most-watched events in history according to our data.

COMMS has compiled a file on Action Pack for your review, based on a combination of Roxxon’s official press release and our own investigation, some of which contradicts the official story.

The team meets up in the conference room. It's been a week since Operation Scalpel. Vlad's seat at the table is empty.

Clay is there, along with SHIELD Deputy Director Maria Hill.

Elise stumbles in late, looking like hell. There are dark circles under her eyes, a lit joint dangles from her lips, and her shirt is on inside out. She hooks a seat next to Miles, who himself has a couple of days of stubble going and may be wearing yesterday's shirt.

"We lost a member of our team. A member of our family. And this isn't like when he tackled Hyperion in Russia. He's...he's not coming back and we need to all face that fact. We might get him back, I haven't totally given up on that, but whatever's happened to him, whatever path he's walked down... he's not walking back from it on his own."

Hill stares at Elise, and then looks at Clay. She seems especially concerned at the idea of involving Doom. Clay simply nods. "Okay. Keep me in the loop. No secrets."

Elise nods. "Can I keep smoking in here?"

Clay nods "For now."

"We should talk to Strange about countermeasures. We could deal with Vlad if the mystical shit was off the table." Miles has clearly been thinking about this a lot.

Elise leans back, content as she can get at this time. "Deal with him?"

Clay nods at Miles. "It's being discussed. Strange is taking this as personally as any of us, he sees it as his pupil gone awry. His responsibility."

"S'not his responsibility,” Elise says. “It's my fault. I'll fix it."

"It's no one's fault, Elise,” Michael says. “He made a choice. He chose to leave us."

"How do we even trust him again?" Julian's voice comes out in a rasp.

"We don't," Miles says simply.

"Julian, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The answer may be we don't," Clay says. "But we also can't let the Parliament have him.

"Regardless... that's not our most pressing issue right this second. That's a...down the road problem. Right now, we have a mission.

"There's a fugitive on Earth, an alien fugitive. Someone treating our planet like their own little nowhere to lay low. This happens from time to time, and is usually SWORD's problem. They have men in black suits to deal with that kind of thing. If the person has a bounty on them, sometimes the Guardians show up to collect."

"Alien fugitive?” Miles smirks. “Was his wife killed by the five-armed man?"

"Who's the five-armed man?" Elise asks.

Clay just sighs and continues.

"The situation has changed. Apparently our reputation galactically has been of...space Argentina? A quiet, nowhere place that is neutral in the Kree-Skrull war because it's out of the way and not involved and disregarded as primitive. But now the Xandar Federation has decided this situation is untenable."

"The who?" Elise says.

Clay grumbles. "The Xandar Federation are an interstellar nation, think...space Switzerland. They're neutral in the Kree-Skrull war, have no standing army, instead a massive interstellar police force called the Nova Corps.

"Xandar has sent a Nova Corps member to Earth to pursue the fugitive, whose alias is Nebula, and apprehend her. They contacted SWORD, and talked to Fury, and apparently... the assignment is permanent.

"Earth is now a Protectorate of the Xandar Federation. We...don't get a vote or anything."

"Brand's gonna love dealing with that," Elise says.

"Yeah, I was on the conference call, she was very happy," Clay says.

"Good thing we're the black ops folk who don't gotta play by the rules, right?" she adds hopefully.

"Indeed," Michael nods.

Miles raises a hand. "What's Xandar like? Are they okay or did we sign up for space Amway or something?"

"Xandar is...Xandar's actually a really beautiful world, to be honest." Clay looks at Miles. "They're basically the Federation. The Nova Corps are Starfleet. It's not a bad deal, Miles."

"Who are the Federation and Starfleet?" Elise asks. Phoenix smiles a little at this. Michael facepalms. Miles shakes his head sadly.

Clay just looks at Elise.

"Do you want to keep smoking?"

"What! I was too busy getting laid to catch up on this shit. It's Star Wars, right?"

Clay stares at Elise.

"I'm going to continue on. And opt not to have heard that."

Elise snickers for the first time and takes a long toke. "I'm joking, Clay. I know it's Firefly."

She’s just trumpet noises to Clay now. He ignores her and continues. "Here's the thing... apparently Xandar has something akin to the Prime Directive, and so the Nova Corpsman they dispatched has to operate quietly and without the 'natives', ie people of this planet, knowing about him doing his job of protecting this planet from existential threats and serious world destroying dangers.

"Which is... STRIKE's remit."

Miles leans forward urgently. "Wait, are you saying..."

"Oh no,” Elise stares. “Wait, this is you fucking with me, right?"

"...So, Fury decided since we're down a team-member, to assign the Nova Corpsman to our team."

"I was joking about the Firefly thing," Elise protests. "I haven't even seen it."

Clay presses a button on the comm. "Centurion Valt, can you come in here, please?"

Miles stands and inclines his head in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Centurion."

Ryann smiles politely and nods. "Nice to meet you all, glad to be here." Sensate can tell he is not.

"Glad to have you here!" Elise says cheerily. "Oh, Julian, did you put a joint in the potted plant again? Shame on you."

Julian and Maria Hill rolls their eyes. Ryann looks at Elise and then Julian. He looks at Clay, confused.

Clay nods and waves to a chair. "Please have a seat, agent." Ryann looks back at Julian and Elise, puzzled, and sits down.

Elise stares at Clay and thinks as hard as she can. HELP ME.

Clay looks back at Elise. His face conveys a simple message.

No.

CLAAAAY.

Clay continues. "Nebula detonated her getaway ship in orbit, immediately after transporting down to the surface. SWORD examined the wreckage, and determined that based on the orbit she was in, she's somewhere in the United States. Agent Valt used the scanner aboard his ship to narrow the search area down, and determined she's in Malibu."

Ryann nods

"Why? We're not sure. The Nova Corps suspects she's using alien technology to hide her features and disguise herself in the human populace. She's an alien cyborg assassin, her original species is unknown but is blue-skinned and humanoid. Possibly Kree."

"Do we have anything of hers?" Elise perks up. "I can sniff it!"

Clay nods "I figured that might come up, so I had SWORD retrieve what they could from the wreckage of her ship, Elise. Niles has it over at his lab, see what you can gather. Kane's getting the Zephyr ready.

"Wheels up in 45, gear up. Non-lethals, civvies, holo-disguises, this is an undercover operation on US soil so avoid going loud. We don't need the Sentinels crawling up our ass or something. Find her, knock her out, let Agent Valt take her back to his ship for further orders from the the Nova Corps.

"Any questions?"

Ryann speaks up. "I want to make one thing clear to all of you. This fugitive is an extreme threat. She's the daughter of a failed galactic conqueror, who we stopped, and she's desperate.

"She wouldn't care if this whole planet got blown to high hell if it made sure she would escape. She will have no concern for Human life so when we find her we need to take her down quickly. Understand?"

"Understood," Julian nods.

"Sure, sure." Elise nods at Ryann. "Do I have to wear the holoveil and wig and stuff?" she directs that at Clay.

"Yes. You're on US soil, Elise, the last thing we need is ONE tagging you getting into a fight and swarming robots on you."

"It's not like they'd recognize me. Lots of people have tattoos and dyed hair," Elise mutters.

Clay squints at her. "Yes, they would. Arsenal would."

"Arsenal, that's the government AI that wants to kill you all, right?" Ryann asks.

Clay nods. "Yes."

"Actually, that raises a question,” Miles says. “Is there a reason we don't just leak her location to ONE? Let the robot swarms deal with her?"

Hill speaks up. "Nebula is a cyborg, based on tech more advanced than anything we have on Earth. The exact specifics of her upper limits aren't fully known, but she's superhumanly strong, fast, and resilient to injury. We say 'non-lethal' but only in a final results sense. Feel free to pack armor-piercing and explosive rounds in addition to ICERs, ICERs might tickle her."

"Goddamnit," Elise mutters.

"I'll take her down,” Ryann says. “You all just have my back." Elise can tall he’s growing impatient.

Clay shakes his head. "That's not how we do things, Valt. For starters, Agent Mason is field team lead."

"Secondly,” Clay continues, “you are a team, and work as one. I understand as a Supernova you're used to working alone, but STRIKE is a team."

"Oh! Oh! We should do introductions." Elise smiles at Ryann. "You know, go around the table, share some fun facts so we all get to know each other."

Ryann ignores this. "Actually...Clay, right? Can I call you Clay? Good. Here’s how this one will go. Nebula is my mission, and as you just explained, this is Nova Corps jurisdiction, so I'll be leading this op." Ryann looks the the Director in the eye and cocks an eyebrow.

Clay looks at Hill. Elise laughs out loud, incredulous.

"Nova Corps being the guys who lost this chick in the first place," Miles deadpans.

"Wrong," Centurion says. "But not important."

Hill sucks her teeth. "Centurion Valt, let me be absolutely clear. This is not simply 'Nova Corps jurisdiction,' nor may you simply trump Director Quartermain's authority whenever you see fit. This mission is no longer simply a matter of the Nova Corps, it is the first of many missions going forward in which you will be working with and for STRIKE as a department and SHIELD as an organization.

"Furthermore, you have been assigned to this world by the Nova Corps, not to oversee and command, but to work with and for SHIELD and under STRIKE's direct authority, which puts you under Director Quartermain's command. If you would like to question this reality, I invite you to return to your ship, contact Nova-Prime, and question her orders. I'm sure she would be happy to explain them to you.

"Are we clear, Agent Valt?"

A chorus of nods and whispers greet this dressing-down, but Clay waves the STRIKE peanut gallery to silence. Elise takes this opportunity to wheel her chair back and start digging in the potted plant soil for her joint.

Ryann squints. "Oh, crystal." He looks at everyone. "I'll even make note of it in my reports, Ms. Hill."

"You do that."

"I will."

Hill looks at Clay and nods. Clay looks at the team. "Any other questions that are actual mission questions?"

"Hypothetically, if we run into these, uh..." Elise snaps a few times. "Corporate superhero fuckos." Ryann shakes his head at the word Superhero.

Clay grumbles. "Oh, yes, them. Avoid them, good lord, do not engage. I don't need you being on TV and the internet."

Elise perks up. "Wait, I didn't even think about that. I could go viral."

"Elise no," Clay pleads. "You're a spy."

"Elise, yes."

"If you go viral it's treason," Clay adds.

"Flashback said I'm a bad spy so maybe I could go into PR!"

"You want to get transferred to COMMS?" Clay folds his arms. "I could get you a desk next to Jeremiah."

Ryann just shakes his head in disbelief. "These people are ridiculous..." he says under his breath.

Elise looks at him and raises both of her eyebrows. "You clearly didn't even read our files! You wouldn't be muttering shit all sneaky like if you had read my file, ya fuckin' dingus!"

Ryann's eyes widen. "Excuse me?"

Clay snaps his fingers.

Elise jumps. "Yes Clay sorry Clay."

"Thank you." He takes a deep breath. "Alright, team, fall out. Head to the quartermaster and get geared up as needed. Mason, there's one other thing."

Elise stands. "Gonna go see Niles. Gonna sniff some spaceships."

Ryann stands as well, and leaves the conference room. He begins typing on a wrist gauntlet of some kind that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Clay approaches Miles. "I talked to Fury about the X-51 upgrade. He approved it. Vision and MODOC worked on the connection and system compatibility. It's ready for the upload." He pauses. "Jones threw a fit, so...try to...avoid talking to him for a while."

Miles pumps his fist. "Nice. Thanks, Clay. And I'll steer clear of Jones."

"I went over his head and made a duplicate of his favorite toy because our team lost our AI. He made several written complaints," Clay adds. "Jones is convinced the VI is going to take over your mind and make you evil or something."

"I've already had my evil phase," Miles says. "It's all uphill from here."

Elise's face darkens. "Tell Jones to eat a dick," she tells Clay.

"Done and done."

So that’s Ryann Valt, Centurion - hotheaded space cop who doesn’t play well with others. Sometimes the classics are that way for a reason.

Like all the other STRIKE members barring Elise, Ryann is an original character with ties to a preexisting Marvel character; in this case, Nova. His code name, Centurion, isn’t a superhero sobriquet but his actual rank within the Nova Corps organization.

Nova’s been a kind of fringe character kicking around in C-list obscurity for decades. Originally debuting in a self-titled 1976 comic series, he was Richard Ryder, ordinary working-class high school student who found dying alien Rhomann Dey and was bequeathed the weapons, armor, and “Nova Force” powers of the Nova Corps, a force of galactic policemen from the peaceful planet Xandar, in a pretty straightforward riff on DC’s Green Lantern Corps.

The twist was that Rhomann Dey was the last Nova, and he didn’t have time to explain the intricacies of the Nova Force before dying, so Richard Ryder had to kind of semi-comedically bumble his way into learning how to be a superhero, not unlike The Greatest American Hero.

Nova’s comic was cancelled after 25 issues and he kind of disappeared from the scene for years and years, partly because his creator and writer, Marv Wolfman, had moved to DC in the early 80s and created the wildly popular teen melodrama The New Teen Titans with artist George Perez, which remains his biggest accomplishment and one of the most important comic works of the era. Nova was kind of treated as his juvenalia.

Nova was revived in the late 80s, around when I was getting into comics, as a member of the edgy teen team The New Warriors, but disappeared again after a few years, although one major development during that time was the reformation of the Nova Corps, opening the door to the possibility of other Nova characters.

He finally came back for good in the 2000s, with the landmark sci-fi story Annihilation, wherein veteran Warhammer 40K writer Dan Abnett kind of singlehandedly revitalized, reimagined, and reorganized Marvel’s long-neglected stable of “cosmic” characters and storylines. The Nova Corps figured prominently in that story and they’ve remained a more front-and-center presence in Marvel ever since, solidified by their major role in Guardians of the Galaxy.

As you’ve probably inferred, that new status quo is more or less what we’re going with here. The Nova Corps is an active, vital force in the wider galaxy, catching galactic bad guys like Thanos and preserving Xandar as a neutral safe zone between the Kree and Skrulls Empires.

He takes out a metal crate, and opens it. There's strange metal fragments in there, bits of fabric, etc. They remind Elise of the SWORD satellite, but different. Definitely alien tech.
Niles looks at her. She can tell he's just like, trying to compartmentalize. He's not... doing a great job.

"We all did our parts." is all he says before he goes and grabs more gear.

She feels a tiny hand on her sleeve. She turns. "Hey, buddy," she says.

"MODOC... TRIED..."

“I - I - I gotta piss. Like a racehorse." Elise sprints into the hall.

Niles watches her go, then turns to Ryann. "Hey. Do you need a photostatic veil or do you have... like a thing? Your own thing? I didn't get a brief on your tech."

"Umm...I look human. I do need to hide my race and I don't have any identity on Earth. I don't really think I'll need one," Ryann says.

Niles squints. "You'll...need one anyway. You don't need to get profiled by ONE or something. I mean, Bob uses disguises and he's not even… Point is, use a fake face."

"Okay." Ryann rolls his eyes, wondering Who the fuck is Bob…

Elise re-enters the room with runny, smeared makeup, red eyes, and a hoarse voice. She grabs a photostatic veil and begins fiddling with it.

MODOC floats over to Miles. "Hey, little buddy,” Miles says. “I hear you made something for me?"

MODOC bobs excitedly, brightening up a bit. "MODOC READY TO HELP!"

Miles nods at MODOC. "Let's do this."

MODOC's eye twitches, and Miles feels a rush.

X-51 UPLOADED.

The system comes online. He can feel it, like a second mind inside his mind. Not a person, per se. It doesn't feel foreign, or an invader.

Miles' pupils dilate as his mind expands. "Incredible...." he murmurs.

X-51's voice is inside his mind. Hello, Miles.

"Hel - " Miles stops himself. Hello, X-51. It's good to meet you.

It is good to meet you, too. I will provide assistance as needed or requested.

Thank you, Miles thinks. While we travel to Malibu, could you review SWORD's files on Nebula and discuss tactical options with me?

Yes, sir.

Miles nods, trying not to seem both not too excited and not too much like a person talking to voices in their head, and pulls on a photostatic veil, blurring his features to look like a more nondescript white guy in his thirties.

He glances over at Elise, who has put on a mousy brown wig, completing her transformation from a green and pink haired, heavily tattooed punk into an incredibly... normal looking girl. She still looks miserable.

Wordlessly, she steps over to Niles’ pile of junk and begins feeling and sniffing it. After a moment, she straightens. "Okay, no one bring up Vlad, because if I cry again, I'm gonna lose the scent.

"I got Nebula all up in my nose."

Suddenly she gets hugged from behind. Nobody sneaks up on her, this is quite startling.

It's Crystalia.

"Crys!"

"Hey!” the princess grins. “Can I talk to you, before you head out?"

"Yeah, of course!"

They step into the hall to talk privately. Crys pauses a moment to choose her words. "So, ummm...the King is insisting...we get married. As soon as possible. He sees SHIELD as a major political power and he thinks that our marriage would be...diplomatically important."

"So, like, this year?" Elise brightens.

Crystalia shakes her head. "Like, this month."

"Oh, shit. I mean, of course. Of course, I would love to get married to you." Elise pauses. "I just need a suit."

Crystalia nods. "I'm working on it. I have a planner."

"Oh thank God."

"It'll be... Attilan style. It'll be a traditional Attilan wedding," Crystalia says. "It won't be a dress I promise. You will have a suit."

"Can I bring my team?"

Crystalia nods firmly. "Yes, absolutely."

"Then yeah, yeah, of course, I'll be there! We'll get it done, I don't want you to have to delay this and deal with the King, especially after...recent stuff. I'll be there. It'll be great." Elise pauses. "Is there anything I need to know about Attilan weddings?"

"Uh, yeah, some stuff, we'll talk about it when you get back. Next week is good?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll let Clay know."

"Fantastic!"

Elise gives Crys a kiss. "I've even been working on quitting smoking, it'll be great."

She grins. "I can tell!" She skips off.

At the landing pad, Elise rejoins the group with significantly more swagger.

"Guess where we're going next week!" She looks expectantly at her teammates.

"Rehab?" Miles suggests.

Elise stares. "Holy shit Miles."

"Alpha Centauri?" Michael offers.

"IHOP?" Julian adds.

Ryann shakes his head and heads for the ramp.

Elise raises her voice so he can hear. "MY WEDDING IN ATTILAN!!! IT'S KIND OF A BIG DEAL!"

Miles grins, the slightly sour twist to his expression evaporating into genuine warmth. He takes Elise's hand in both of his own. "Congratulations, Elise." She can see he means it.

"Yeah, Attilan thinks it’s a political deal so it has to be rush rush but," she shrugs. "Whatever, it'll be great."

"Congrats Elise." Michael goes for a high five. Elise high fives him and then the rest of the group for good measure and then skips aboard the Zephyr.

"Hey, Elise," Miles calls after her. "What about a bachelorette party?"

It's a couple hours to Malibu. Kane throws on the auto-pilot and heads back into the cabin. She throws a high-five to Elise.

"What's this for?" Elise asks, catching the high five.

"Crystal told me!"

"You're coming, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Julian's plus-one." She stares at Julian. "Right?"

Miles also stares at Julian.

"Right!"

They nod. He answered correctly.

Elise whirls to face Miles. "Oh shit are you bringing Carol?"

He opens his mouth and closes it again, thinking. "Can I? It's not going to be weird?"

"Is she going to make it weird?"

Miles considers his answer carefully. "No. It will not be made weird by her."

"She can come," Elise shrugs.

Miles nods gratefully. "Thanks, Elise. This is going to be good for enough boyfriend points to get a day off for video games." He turns away and composes Carol a text.

Elise is getting shotgun married next week.
Want to be my +1?
Let's go pick up clothes asap

He gets a text back. YES with a heart emoji.

turns to Centurion. "You can come? It'll be cool. Attilan's cool. Open bar."

"Hmm?" Ryann looks up. "Eh...I...uhh," he looks at Elise. "I'm just going over some of the mission data, sorry." He looks back down to his gauntlet.

"Don't be a square, c'mon," she wheedles. "We always just kind of wing the missions."

He stops and sighs. "If the Corps allows it, maybe." He smiles politely.

She wiggles her fingers. "It's a diplomatic expediiiition."

He stares at her.

She snaps her fingers with a sudden thought. "Oh! I should call Clay! About the wedding! Which you're coming to!" She dials Clay's number and grins at Ryann.

Ryann slowly goes back to his gauntlet.

"Hey Claaaaay," Elise says into her phone. "Guess whaaaaat."

"You're getting married and I'm invited. Crystalia told me."

"You gotta walk me down the aisle!"

"....ok."

Elise squeals.

"I want you to understand this is a terrifying thing for me to do," Clay adds.

"I'm not asking to torment you, y'know."

"No, Elise, think about who I am and where this wedding is," he says. "Do not say it out loud."

"OH."

"I'm still going. I'm not missing it."

"Maybe go easy on the open bar," she says in a quiet voice.

"....yes."

"Okay. Thank you. Loveyouyou'regreat." Elise hangs up before she can get a reply. She exhales. "I hate having emotions."

Nearby, having only overheard one side of the conversation, Ryann has come to the conclusion that Clay has a drinking problem.

She turns to face him.; "So, Ryann, since you didn't read our files,” she begins with a big smile, "I'm Sensate. I smell things real good."

"I read your file, Elise." He doesn’t look up.

"Uh huh."

"I wasn't aware of the extent of your abilities, but yes, I read them." He continues to work on his gauntlet.

Kane speaks up. "Hey, Elise, about that. We're coming up on the AO now, I'm gonna slow us down to a hover and open the rear ramp if you wanna 'step outside' so to speak, point me in a direction."

She heads into the cockpit, and the rear ramp opens up. As Ryann watches with interest, Elise stands up in the breeze and takes a few elementary sniffs.

She can smell Nebula on the wind. She's...on the coast. She has a direction, and distance.

"...Head coastwards." Elise tilts her head like an owl. "She's... definitely on the coast, super close to it."

Miles furrows his brow. "Did Nebula cross light-years to get her own Barbie Malibu Dream House?"

"Shut up, Miles, I'm trying to go for a walk," she says. She steps onto the ramp, clutching the supports. "Alright, if I pass out, someone catch me. If I hit my head, I'm gonna be so mad." She closes her eyes. "Alright."

But she’s caught. A field of glowing energy pulls her back onto the Zephyr, standing her upright until her vision clears. "Whoa there, Agent," Ryann says.

Elise gasps and opens her eyes. "Too much, too much, went too far." When she can support herself, Ryann drops the field.

Kane puts her hand on Elise's shoulder, helping her to her seat. "It's okay, the info you gave me is enough to point me in the right direction. Although...if...that's where I think it is -" She looks at Miles, "- he might not be wrong about the dream house."

"Sometimes I, I slingshot, I go farther than where I want to go and then next thing I know I'm in the deep reaches of space and -" Elise is clearly embarrassed about failing in front of Centurion.

"Still though, you got us a lead," Ryann says.

"Yeah, well, whatever you did to hold onto me worked. I didn't go for a walk through the cosmos. So. Thanks."

"It's my job,” Ryann grins.

Kane closes the hatch and walks back up to the cockpit. "Alright everyone, strap in."

The Zephyr leaves hover mode and blasts towards the coast. After a few moments, Kane comes over the comms again. "Yeah, guys, so uh... this just got complicated.

"If you look to your right, you will see this mission just turned into a shitshow."

Suddenly, Elise claps her hands. "I have a plan!" She lifts her shirt to reveal the arc reactor harness. "See! I'll go up, be a distraction, pretend I need tech support! You guys can sneak around that way! Behemoth can come with me in case things get ugly."

Kane puts on the auto-pilot and walks back to the cabin. "I checked with SHIELD. Tony's not home, thankfully."

"Iron Man, right?” Centurion says. “The hero?"

"...yeah," Kane nods.

"We need a way to flush her outside," Miles says.

Ryann walks over to the window and tries to scan the mansion with his gauntlet, but Tony Stark has the whole place shielded from technical scans and visual interference. Elise's superhuman abilities might be capable of seeing through it, but even Valt's Nova Corps technology would have to scan carefully to penetrate.

"There's definitely something wrong,” Kane says. “I called Clay, and he had Vision try to connect to Jarvis to see if he could...I don't know, do something. They're the same OS or something, I guess.

“Jarvis is offline. Which means there's no alarms. No internal security. Something's going on here."

"She's using tech beyond Earth's capabilities. Stark's tech doesn't have chance against her.” Ryann stands up abruptly. "Alright, I'll teleport in and check the house. I'll message you for backup when I make contact."

Miles puts a restraining hand on Centurion. "Hold up, space cowboy. We go in together."

"...I'm real small and real quick. I could do an external loop of the place in the harness, look to see if there's anything through the windows." Elise looks to Miles. "What do you think, Chief?"

"In the past, we always had you go with Vlad or Susan or someone else who could hide you. You can recon, but keep way more of a distance than you're used to. Don't take chances." Miles' voice takes on an odd momentary intensity. "...cool?"

"Yeah, got it, Chief. Kane, open the hatch up."

Ryann turns to Miles and says quietly "Vlad..that's the other AI that wants to kill you, right?" He raises an eyebrow.

Elise looks over her shoulder and gives Ryann and Miles a death glare. "Do not. Talk. About Vlad."

Ryann looks at her. "I...sorry. I'm sorry." He raises both his hands.

"...Thank you." Elise turns back to the hatch. Ryann looks relieved..

The hatch opens, and Elise flies out.

As she zips around the mansion, through one of the windows she sees a woman with a shaved head and a leather jacket walking downstairs into Tony's workshop. The windows are tinted, but Elise's senses can penetrate them. The woman is walking over to the large arc reactor that Stark has in his basement, and is...doing something to it.

"The arc reactor?” Shit.” Miles leaps out of his seat. “Okay, we have to move in. Assume that she's coopted Stark's defenses. X-51, prepare any kind of ECM you might have. We're going in two groups. Centurion, Julian, rendezvous with Sensate. Centurion, you've got force fields, right? Elise and Phoenix are our most vulnerable members. I'd like you to be their shield. You three are going in the house and down into the workshop from above. Michael, you and I are coming in from the seaside. We're making our own door. Everyone copy?"

"Roger, Chief," Elise radios.

"No, the Nova force doesn't work like that. It's not like a shield," Ryann says. "I can effect mass...I can't explain right now."

Elise sighs and takes another peek through the window while she prepares for Centurion and Miles to argue. The shaven-headed woman seems to be routing power from the reactor to...one of Stark's Iron Man suits?

"Tony's gonna be so pissed..." she mutters.

"Okay. Well, you wanted to go in first,” Miles says to Ryann. “Now's your big chance. Be the thin end of the wedge. Elise, Julian, follow behind at a safe distance. Cover him, but don't let yourselves get surrounded."

Ryann nods in agreement. "Gotcha," Julian says.

"Well, let's make a door. Sorry, ‘Iron Man.’" Centurion leaps out of the ship and teleports. He reappears right above the roof and punches a whole as he lands inside Stark's house. His full Nova uniform materializes around him.

The woman whips around from the console she was working on, drawing a retractable staff and dropping her holographic disguise. It's Nebula.

Phoenix follows down the hole after Centurion, fire flickering over his fingers. Machine Man takes off from the Zephyr. "Come on, Behemoth!"

Centurion points a finger at Nebula. "Nebula. By the authority of the Nova Corps and the Xandar Federation, you are under arrest. You will be taken into custody, and granted all due rights and capacity for defense in accordance with any existing treaties with your native government. If you have no native government, you will be treated as a refugee under Xandarian law."

"No. I'm not going anywhere with you. I'm going to be free." She reaches back and presses a button on the console, and the large arc reactor, the size of a truck, starts cycling up and making a loud, low-pitched whine.

"Stop!" Ryann shouts.

Sensate crashes through the plate-glass window, snapping off a precise burst at Nebula. The ICER rounds hit her in the face. It staggers her, causing her to lean on her staff and giving her what appears to a type of facial palsy.

This upsets her, and she blasts back at Elise with a torrent of energy from her staff. Elise's harness absorbs the blast, and Elise thunks against the wall. She's unharmed, however.
That hit probably would have killed her without the harness.

Elise grunts, scrambling back to her feet.

Julian attempts to pyrokinetically superheat Nebula's staff, attempting to disarm her, but there’s too much metal - in the staff, in her, everywhere. He doesn’t think he can contain the heat; he’d end up scorching her entire body. He hesitates.

"Alright, lady." Centurion vanishes in a burst of energy. He reappears right above Nebula and swings for the fences with a massive punch, sending her flying across the room and crashing into the opposite wall.

Miles and Michael sail through the hole in the roof. Elise decides that the heavy hitters have Nebula covered. She runs to the arc reactor's control panel and tries to figure out, by tracing the fading heat of her fingerprints, what Nebula was trying to do.

It looks like Nebula was running energy from the larger reactor into one of Stark's prototype armors.

The suit looks different from Stark's other armors. It has an extra-large repulsor pack on the back. Elise can see micro-ablative heat shielding. Its surface reminds her of the hull of the Zephyr. This thing could fly into space.

Nebula’s super-charging it, beyond what its own arc reactor could normally output.

Elise frantically tries to reverse Nebula's efforts. Seeing this, Miles puts a hand to his temple. X-51, can you determine how to shut down the reactor safely and tell Sensate over comms?

X-51 isn't based on Stark tech, and tries its best to guide Elise, who aggressively does not have an engineering degree, in how to reverse the power.

But somehow, between the pair, they figure it out. Elise slams the button on the control interface.

Nebula sees the power shift, and howls "No! Let me go!"

She presses a button on her arm, and the suit opens. She leaps inside with superhuman speed, the suit closing around her. The suit starts up, with not nearly the power it had before.

Just as the armor’s jets activate, Behemoth slams into Nebula, driving her into the ground. "NO!" she howls over the suit's speakers. "Let me go!"

"Centurion? I'm starting to feel like we may be the baddies, here," Elise says. "Can we ask her why we need to let her go?"

The jets sputter to life. The suit takes off. Behemoth is attached. However, the Gemini Iron Man suit is designed to fly into space and is more than enough to fly with him on it. But with Behemoth fighting her on it, she can't get enough lift to get into orbit.

"It's over, Nebu-" Centurion starts to say as they rocket away. "Son of a bitch!" He blasts off after them.

"Uh." Elise stares at the new Behemoth-shaped hole in Stark's ceiling.

X-51! Can you shut that armor down?

X-51 intones to Miles I'm afraid I can't do that, Miles. Tony Stark's operating systems are extremely resistant to electronic tampering in that very specific way. Vision, perhaps, could do so, as they share an operating system.

Machine Man grimaces but nods. I understand. Thank you for clarifying that. What do you think my top altitude is? Miles jets upward in hot pursuit.

Elise looks at Phoenix and shrugs. "I'm not going up there."

She calls Clay. "Hey, Clay, if I told you I was standing in front of Tony Stark's arc reactor system with full access, like...I'm feeling ethical concerns, here. But on the other hand, I feel like STRIKE should know about this, in case, like. Maybe this is useful information? For reasons?"

Clay responds "Put your cellphone next to the console. And put me on speaker."

Elise puts the phone down and puts Clay on speaker. "Okay." She pauses. "I wonder if there's a bar around here."

Centurion is flying after Behemoth and Nebula, as the two arc high over the Los Angeles skyline. He's joined by Miles.

As Nebula desperately tries to prise his fingers off her armor, Behemoth’s fist stabs forward to forcefully rip out the suits arc reactor.

That arc reactor unit comes right out. The suit plummets limply toward the ground. A moment later, Nebula opens the suit and kicks clear of it.

Centurion dives after her, teleporting into a grapple. He grabs Nebula just as the two are about to hit the ground, saving Nebula from what may well have been a fatal impact, even for her augmented physique.

He's now in the open in downtown Los Angeles.

There are people everywhere, pulling out cell phones. Stopping traffic.

Nebula wrests herself around to look at Centurion. "I will not be anyone's prisoner, ever again!" she hisses as she activates a cybernetic implant and conducts hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity through her body.

The energy isn't like a kinetic attack, and is something Ryann's barrier struggles to protect him from. That amount of electricity would kill a human instantly. For a Supernova, it's more like being tasered.

"ARRRHHHHGGGG!!!" He fails backwards, smoke pouring from him.

The two aliens crash into the ground as a crowd forms, taking video and pictures.

Miles races toward the scene. X-51, can you shut down those phones?

Yes, sir. However, it appears we have incoming.

"Sentinels on the way!" Miles shouts over comms. "We need to wrap up this party quick!"

No, sir. I am monitoring the live-feed of the Action Pack program, which is based out of Los Angeles. Their craft is moving to intercept.

"Oh, fuck me."

Elise and Julian land on the scene, next to Miles. She beams. "You guys stopped Nebula, right?"

Julian attempts to subdue Nebula mentally...but there's no brain to reach into. Her mind is fully synthetic. She's a cyborg, but no part of her brain is fully organic. Instead, Julian gets a mild nosebleed for his efforts.

F...fuck! There's no... it's all synthetic, nothing for me to get into!

Miles nods grimly and fires his repulsors at full power. Nebula is blasted into the ground, her body twisted and contorted by the repulsor.

Elise can see a craft rapidly approaching. Seconds away.

"I'm going to be on TV?!" Elise gasps.

"Elise!” Miles hisses into comms. “Treason!"

"Wait, shit, no, okay, I'll go run interference on Action Pack," she amends herself. She is not sharing a desk with Jeremiah. Never again. She takes off toward the Action Pack’s ship.

Hoisting himself up on one arm, Centurion climbs to his feet and spits. Then he whirls at a sudden sound.

Nebula’s body begins to slowly start snapping back into shape as the crowd gasps in horror.

These are all actual characters, though, appropriately, not super-prominent ones.

Nighthawk is probably the most recognizable. He’s a member of the Squadron Supreme, the superhero team of an alternate Earth, composed of very thinly-veiled remixes of the Justice League. Hyperion is the Squadron’s Superman analogue, and Nighthawk is the Batman, an unpowered millionaire playboy who fights crime to avenge his dead parents. Other members of the Squadron include Power Princess, Doctor Spectrum, Golden Archer, and the green, telepathic, shapeshifting Skrullian Skymaster.

Like I said: thinly-veiled.

The Squadron originally debuted, as so much else in this game did, during the classic Kree-Skrull War story in Avengers. See, it turns out Rick Jones - who, in 1971, was a young hippie (which is why I had him fetishize classic rock) - was a powerful latent psychic, and the Kree Supreme Intelligence unlocked his power and forced him to create psychic projections to fight the Avengers, and since Jones was a comic fan, the projections took the form of the evil Squadron Sinister - spooky thinly-veiled versions of DC characters. Thankfully the Avengers helped Jones go through a 2001 acid trip sequence that let him summon a psychic posse of 1940s Marvel heroes to save the day.

Man, I don’t know. It was the 70s. What do you want?

Later, the Avengers traveled through parallel dimensions and met the real Squadron Supreme. Team-ups between the two groups became a recurring fixture of 70s Marvel. The Squadron eventually got their own 1986 miniseries, a somewhat underrated tale about the team having to forcibly impose order on their world after a villain nearly succeeds in destroying it. I suspect it was a big inspiration for DC’s later Kingdom Come.

Anyway, Blur is also from the Squadron Supreme, but a more modern version, and takes the ersatz-Flash role which formerly belonged to the unfortunately-named “Whizzer.”

Firestar will be familiar to anyone who watched the 1980s Spider-Man cartoon, where she debuted to round out a team consisting of Spider-Man and Iceman.

(I always wanted a dorm room that you could turn into a secret computer lair.)

Nightfall is an Inhuman, and a recent addition (2014) to Marvel.

There are several heroes named Patriot, including the Golden Age hero Jeffrey Mace, who was in a season of Agents of SHIELD a couple of years ago, but this specific version is very new, debuting just last year - a guy who serendipitously comes across a suit of Iron Man armor.

The Action Pack have floating camera drones that are following them. One of them focuses on Elise. She opens fire, destroying the drone and several others.

Patriot whirls and fires on her with a huge array of repulsor weapons.

"Oh shit come on that's not equivalent --"

Elise has a choice. She can either try to dodge, but she doesn't know what's behind her to get hit by the blast Or...she can hope Stark's field harness can absorb the shot.

Elise very briefly imagines trying to explain to Clay why an Action Pack shoulder cam picked up her dodging and letting a baby get blasted. "Come on, Stark -"

She goes flying off the building, and nearly hits the pavement before the harness' auto-velocity safeties kick in and prevent her from being smeared. The shot itself would have been fatal. Patriot shot to kill.

As she fires, Elise realizes she’s not 100% sure how many EMP rounds would take to down Patriot. She could play it safe and risk him remaining upright, or she can empty her magazine.

She only hesitates a moment. He shot to kill. She does the same.

The rounds hit Patriot, and make him freeze in place, firing his repulsor blasts wildly. Firestar gets hit by one of them. Blur makes sure the rest of his teammates do not. This all happens as new camera drones are being deployed, which means this is live.

"Oh, oh fuck -" Elise starts to say. Then she looks into the cameras. "Be sure to Google ONE and the ARSENAL Project, kids!" Then she leaps off the rooftop.

With an electric sizzle, the EMP rounds overload and fry Patriot's systems. He slumps forward, though remaining upright, and his arc reactor starts rapidly glowing and pulsing with a rising hum.

Centurion, Machine Man, Behemoth, Phoenix, and Nebula see a flash of light from the rooftop where Elise was fighting Action Pack.

Patriot is detonating.

Blur is rapidly trying to get his teammates away. Elise is falling away from the explosion, but not fast enough. And the growing bubble of light will envelop the rest of the team in mere moments.

"Crys, I'm sorry -"

Ryann's head snaps as he tracks Elise falling. He can save her. Or he can grab Nebula. But not both.

"Motherfuc-” He blinks.

He saves Elise. He can't believe he has to save Elise.

The rest of the team blasts away from the explosion at top speed. Miles, who is closest to her, grabs Nebula at full power, though his photostatic veil shorts out in the process.

Elise throws her arms around Centurion's neck and whoops as they outrace the explosion. "I'm ALIVE! Ahahahaha, you brilliant bastard, I LIVE!"

Then she sees the fireball. Thousands of people in downtown Los Angeles are gone. It is not clear, at this time, if Action Pack got away.

Holding tight to Nebula, Miles spins to look back in horror at the expanding mushroom cloud. "Oh....oh no....."

Elise is white as she stares over Centurion's shoulder. "No, no, no, no - I didn't - Oh my God do not take me back to STRIKE. Drop me in the ocean."

"Pfft. STRIKE?” Ryann mutters. “Nova-Prime is gonna strip my rank..." She can tell Centurion is in shock. He’s almost crying? He looks like someone just destroyed something important to him.

Kane comes over the comms. "...guys I... I'll rendezvous with you over the ocean at these coords. Clay's...Clay's calling us in."

"This is fucked,” Julian says. “They've been zipping around with something that can just... do that?"

"I didn't know," Elise says, stunned. "I didn't know!"

The Zephyr is hovering in stealth-mode over the ocean. One by one, the team boards. Miles puts Nebula in a cell aboard the jet. She's compliant, so there is that, at least.

"I'm a fucking war criminal!” she yells. “They're going to put me on the Raft! I deserve to go to the Raft!"

"Shut up, Elise," Miles growls. "I'm team lead. This is on me. I could've had Phoenix TK Patriot to a safe distance - I could have flown it up myself...damn it!" He punches the side of the Zephyr. "God damn it!"

"It's your fault? Really? You're the one who CAUSED A MINI NUKE?! First Vlad, now this, I just - I just destroy shit like a dumbass!"

"Everyone stop," Centurion says. "We need to get back to command...now. This is out of control."

Kane puts on the auto-pilot and comes back to the cabin. She turns on a system the team didn't even know was there, and Clay appears holographically.

"Team."

Elise lifts up her wrists. "Clay, I am so sorry, and I fully surrender myself to, to the Raft, or..."

"Stop," Clay cuts her off. "I need you to listen right now.

"COMMS has intercepted and controlled the narrative. As soon as we learned Action Pack was going to be in our AO, X-51 and Vision worked together to steer the story.

"Smart move blanking the phones, Mason."

Miles' sunglasses retract into his face. His eyes are haggard and red-tinged. "....thanks," he mumbles.

"First of all, I want you to know some realities. None of are you to blame for the explosion. The egregious violation of op-sec, that's a different matter, but that doesn't matter now. It's unimportant.

"Because Patriot was Arsenal."

"Is he dead?!" Elise gasps. "Did I -"

"No. Moreover, he blew up like that on purpose. Vision ran the math, the explosion of that scale he did could not be caused by even the full magazine of your EMP rounds, Elise. At most, it would have taken out the building."

"I had to confront them, they were going to stop us from taking Nebula, maybe take her, get that tech,” Elise says..

"I know, Elise."

“What a bunch of assholes," Michael seethes. Centurion sits with his hand folded over his face.

"You didn't do anything wrong," Clay repeats. "None of you did, not really. I'm not mad.

"We just need to do what must be done here. COMMS took control of the narrative. SHIELD, STRIKE, we're staying out of this. Action Pack is going to take the full blame here.

"With a bit of... 'aliens' thrown in."

Centurion looks up.

"Nebula's a criminal and is being extradited anyway, so she was a convenient person to throw under the bus."

"...So they're all alive, right?” Elise says. “Action Pack?"

"So it seems," Clay nods. "Thanks to their speedster."

"...I can't wear this coat anymore, huh," she grimaces.

"Actually, Vision is really good at his job and digitally replaced you with Nebula."

"...Nice."

"Buy him something nice," Clay adds. "The world's going to blame two groups of people for this: Aliens, in a vague general sense, and Action Pack, the corporate-run superhero vigilantes."

Machine Man raises a hand. "Clay, I got the...strong impression that Nebula wasn't necessarily up to anything nefarious. She was panicking at the idea of going back. Absolutely panicking. What if we could, you know. Make her an offer?"

"Interrogate her en route, Mason. Get back to me on that idea, I'll run it by Fury, and he'll decide."

Miles nods. "Yessir."

"Hey, I just want to say," Elise begins. "Ryann saved my life. If it weren't for him, I'd be..."

"Valt?" Clay looks over at Ryann.

"That's right, Director. I let Nebula go to do it too, but Miles stopped her from getting away. So you're right, she's STRIKE’s prisoner." Ryann is solemn.

"You relied on your team to get the objective done while also not sacrificing a team-member."

"We all did what we could as a team,” Julian says. “That's what's important."

"People died today, but that's not on you, Valt,” Clay says. “That's on this planet's fucked-up politics. Don't let it get to you. You can't."

The words wash over Ryann; he is still shaken by the failure. Suddenly, he gets an Elise hug.

Nex to him, Miles chews his lower lip. They all did what they could - and it wasn't enough. They need to be better, he thinks. I need to be better.

"Things are going to change. There's this Senator, Robert Kelly, who has been cooking up a piece of legislation since the Terrigen Bomb," Clay says. "The Super-Human Registration Act.

"President Gordon Wright supports the bill, but they've been quiet on it for now because the climate hasn't been right. This is going to be the leverage they need. Thousands dead because of super-powered fighting. Because of some costumed vigilantes."

"...And they'll still have ONE and Arsenal," Elise says.

"Yes. Vision's been doing some digging, and Patriot was sold to Roxxon by the US government. This was always the plan. This, or something like it. ONE set this up.

"Gyrich and Arsenal have been planning this since they took over.”

"So they killed thousands of people to push a fuckin' bill?" Michael clenches his fists

Miles rubs his temple in dismay. Elise looks at him. "I have been -" she holds her fingers a millimeter apart. "This close to death three times today."

"it's fine, Elise," he says. "It's fine. We should start loading your phones up with disinformation. Or I could confiscate it before an op."

Clay interjects. "Mason, interrogate Nebula, figure something out, report back to me before you make decisions. Or don't, depending on the decision you make, get me?"

"I get you, sir."

"Oh! Did I help with the whole Stark thing?" Elise perks up. "Did we get good data?"

"Yes. You all did good today, even if that's hard to believe right now. Quatermain out." He vanishes.

Centurion turns away from the others and begins tapping on his gauntlet, composing a report for Nova-Prime of his account of the event. He is honest and remorseful.

"I'm going below," Miles says.

So Los Angeles is Earth-1491’s version of what happened in Stamford, Connecticut in the Civil War crossover, or in Lagos in the MCU - a superhuman battle causes a massive explosion with hundreds or thousands of fatalities, pushing the government to pass new measures to curb and control superhumans - the Super-Human Registration Act in the comics and here, or the Sokovia Accords in the film.

The Civil War storyline in the comics is kind of famously a shitshow; I personally consider it a nadir of modern comics storytelling, down there with “Captain America was a secret Nazi all along.” It featured Reed Richards cloning an evil Thor who predictably goes on a rampage, and ends with Captain America being tackled to the ground by a bunch of NYPD and FDNY cops and firefighters, because something something The Real Heroes of 9/11. God, I’m getting mad just thinking about it.

The movie wisely sidestepped all that bullshit and made it a personal story about Captain America having to choose between two of his friends.

What Matt is setting in motion here is a better version of the comics story, sans evil Thors, firefighters, and inexplicably fascist good guys.

Miles heads downstairs and approaches Nebula's cell. "Nebula. I'm Miles. I'd like you to answer one question for me. Just one. Please answer it honestly."

"Go."

He takes a breath. "Did you really come here just to lay low?"

Centurion clambers down the stairs and stands beside Miles with his arms folded. Miles turns and tries to keep the exasperation out of his voice. "Centurion, could I have a moment alone with the young lady? Just a minute?"

"I'll be in earshot." Ryann walks away.

"I only came here to leave,” Nebula says. “I was hoping to find a vessel to switch to, but you were way less technologically developed than I thought based on what I had heard about your world. Your only starships were docked at a heavily guarded space station, so I was trying to improvise."

Miles nods. "Okay. I believe you. So, to clarify, you have no designs on this world, specifically?"

"No. I just wanted to find something else to leave with. I used the computer aboard the ship I stole to figure out what was the best combination of spacefaring vessel that was the least secure to steal, and that power armor was my best shot. It would have gotten me as far as Alpha Centauri and then I could have switched again.

"More times I switch, the harder I am to follow."

Miles nods. "That's a good best practice. And I infer that you're not keen on going back with our, uh," he jabs a thumb back over his shoulder. "friend back there. So. One final question, and then I'll leave you alone." He leaves this hanging for a moment and studies her, recording her body language and facial expressions for later scrutiny.

"What would you say to the idea of...postponing your extradition? Maybe even indefinitely. In exchange for the skills and resourcefulness I've already seen you possess."

"What? Nope," Ryann blurts out at the end of Miles’ statement "Nope. Nope for like a bunch of reasons."

"I don't want to stay on this world,” Nebula says. “I was able to overhear your communication with your superior. I will not be welcome here. I want to speak to the Nova."

Miles nods. "Interesting." He steps back and waves Centurion in. "I'll be in earshot."

This whole thing of two assertive, competitive dudes butting heads and cattily one-upping each other is meat and drink to me and I’m really glad the other Jake is game for it. Both of us are willing to create characters who push hard on each other and it’s okay because we all know where the line is drawn.

And that’s not something you can always count on! It turns out this sort of macho chest-bumping may be easy to write in a screenplay or novel, but it’s trickier to actually roleplay. There are other people where if I came hard at their character I’d feel like a bully, because the player would take it personally and feel attacked or just be paralyzed with anxiety over not knowing how to respond; and at the other end of the spectrum, there are players who would go nuclear and respond way disproportionately, trying to murder my character or whatever.

Doing conflict right in a game takes a level of trust, and, ideally, a strong social contract. And even then, it won’t be for everyone. But done right, I really enjoy it.

Centurion gives Miles a long look as he walks up to Nebula. He turns to face her. "All right. Now you are talking to me.” He folds his arms. "Go."

"I didn't have a choice," Nebula says. "The things Thanos made me do. He made me do."

Ryann shakes his head.

"Do you have children, Nova?" she asks.

Ryann purses his lips and then says "Your point?"

"If your child disobeyed you, disappointed you with failure, would you cut away their arm, pull out their eye, replace their organs?"

Ryann begins to scowl at her words.

"My 'father,' Thanos, he didn't give me a choice. It was serve, or this." She holds up her cybernetic hand. "Forever. I was as much his prisoner then as I am your prisoner now. Were you one of the ones who took part in his defeat?"

"I was, yes." His tone is controlled.

"Then I have you to thank for my freedom...which you then took from me, for yourself. You freed me from Thanos, and now you take me as your own prize. Or...you could not.

“Let me go."

Ryann stares at Nebula for a long moment and then squints his eyes. "I believe you...I'm sorry for what the Mad Titan stole from you. The idea that the one who is supposed to protect you is the one that hurts you...that isn't what a parent does..." He stops. "But that being said, I can't let you go. I'll make a log of your confession and I will speak for leniency. That's all I can do. You're in the hands of the Nova Corps now. I'm sorry, Nebula."

She tightens her jaw. "So be it. I'll remember." She is quiet, and tucks her knees up against her chest.

Ryann nods and then lets out a sigh as he walks back upstairs.

Miles sends the recording of their interaction to Clay. She's got good ears. Keep her away from sensitive areas in transit. He follows.

Back in the main cabin, Elise is in the process of discarding her joints one by one and loudly bragging about the sacrifices she's made for her wedding to anyone who will listen. "And I'm quitting smoking, and I'm going to the gym every day now, and I'm eating better -"

Miles shakes his head. "No. No, we should never have met each other back then. You would have robbed me. I might have shot you." He sighs. "I love that everyone thinks I'm this square...I dunno. I'm better now."

There are SWORD agents on the landing pad to meet the team. Abigail Brand is there, as is Clay. Elise freezes when she sees Brand, and hides behind Michael and Miles.

Brand looks at Ryann. "Centurion Valt. We're not certain what holding facilities you have aboard the Corona, and when we asked the Nova Corps about it they told us your vessel's specifications are 'classified.'

"So we're here to detain the prisoner, unless you have your own facilities aboard your ship."

Ryann looks at Brand and Clay. Then he looks at Miles. "No, STRIKE helped in this matter greatly. You can hold her until the Corps sends a transport."

Brand nods. She gestures, and a few SWORD agents move to board the Zephyr and retrieve Nebula.

"But see that she is treated well,” Ryann add. “What happened in Los Angeles...it wasn't her fault."

Elise slowly starts to tiptoe around the edge of the group. Brand sees her and opens her mouth to say something, but Clay interposes himself in between and says "Abigail, will there be anything further while you're on my base?"

She looks at him. "...No."

"Thank you, then. Let me know how things go with the prisoner."

Thank you, Elise thinks at Clay.

"MODOC, be a helpful lad and show the SWORD agents and their prisoner out." At Clay’s gesture, MODOC nods with his entire body and leads the group away.

Nebula shoots a look back at Centurion. A black hood is put over her head. He frowns and shakes his head

Clay looks at Ryann. "Valt, my office. The rest of you, fall out."

"Director." Julian gives a slight bow and heads inside.

Elise nudges Miles. "You should call Carol."

Miles nods to Elise. "Yeah. Yeah." He does so.

Clay and Ryann head into the Director’s office.

Clay closes the door and locks it behind them. He walks over and presses a button under his desk. He sits down. "Please, have a seat." Ryann nods and sits.

"The Nova Corps are going to send someone to pick up the prisoner. Another Supernova, Tanak Valt. I assume some relation? Valt's not a very common Xandarian surname."

Ryann's face freezes. He looks like someone told him his dog was hit by a car right after his house was set on fire.

"Brother, then?" Clay says. "...Older brother?"

Ryann shakes his head. "Yeah...yes." He stops and squints at Clay. "How do you know Xandarian surnames?"

"I've spent some time on your world. Lovely place, really. Lovely people, too, the Xandarians. Honestly this whole Protectorate situation's going to be the for the best for this planet and its people."

Ryann’s squint deepens. "What are you? You're not from Earth, I can see that."

"My name is Clay Quartermain. That is my name, because I chose it to be, and it's been my name for decades. I'm also British, because I've lived on this planet for over a hundred years and for almost the entirety of them, I've been a proud subject of the British Empire. You know I've been knighted? Not as Clay Quartermain, mind, but absolutely as a loyal servant of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second.

"But I am also Crown Prince Z'Reg, trueborn heir to the Skrull Empire. This is a fact I am revealing to you now because I hid it from the rest of my team for too long, and it was a mistake that...had a cost.

"They all know. It's not something we hide around the office. Everyone with Level 8 or higher clearance who works in STRIKE-COMMS knows.

"My adopted daughter, Faiza, works in the office next door. It's not something I'm going to be able to hide from you, so I'm not going to try."

"Fuck off," Centurion blurts in disbelief.

Clay shapeshifts into his Skrull form. Ryann has seen historical images of the lost Prince Z'Reg. It's him.

"Oh no...well, fuck me," Ryann breathes. "I have to report this. You have to know that."

"Here's a reality, which I may as well preemptively address," Z’Reg continues. "You might wonder why I'm still here. You know about the 1908 group, about Leviathan, right? You seem like the lad who did his homework."

Ryann nods "Yeah. Skrull defectors turned evil spies."

"I considered Leviathan both my personal responsibility and, if we're being honest, my own sort of...pursuit of vengeance for the past hundred and ten years. They betrayed me. Marooned me here.

"It was only extremely recently, as in last week, we've finally defeated them soundly.

“Technically speaking, I could use one of the confiscated FTL-capable vessels that SWORD has parked up on the Peak and just...leave. Go back to the Skrull Empire, challenge my mad, genocidal sister Veranke for the throne."

"Mhm" Ryann grunts.

"The one who assassinated my uncle, who quite frankly I suspect may have had a hand in killing our father, and try to make a claim that my entire empire has lost its way and the Dard'van are a cult and I am the true Emperor.

"How... how well do you think that will go for me?"

"Not very," Ryann says softly.

Z’Reg nods. "And if information about my existence, the fact that I'm alive, even the idea that this is the planet that I crashed on and I could be alive, became public knowledge to the universe as a whole and my sister knew of it, what do you think the odds are she shows up with the entire Skrull Imperial Armada and turns this planet's surface to glass?"

Ryann nods. "I get it." He sighs. "I really do. The love you have for this world, I mean. Do you know what this planet is...or at least was, for me? This isn't my first time here."

Z’Reg turns to face the window for a moment, and becomes Clay again. "I imagined the Corps would send someone with experience."

Ryann takes a deep breath. "Yeah, but like, I never came here before on assignment. I fell in love with my wife here, Clay, not this city but around this whole world. We came here twice almost fifteen years ago. She made me care about this planet almost as much as I cared about Xandar...in some ways more.”

He sighs again. "If Kaat saw how things are now...it would break her heart. It breaks mine. I'm not going to lie to you, Clay. I wanted off this assignment as soon as I could get the go-ahead from Nova Prime, but now...I hope I didn't give you the wrong impression in our first briefing."

Ryann and his wife honeymooned here fifteen years ago, which is why his favorite music in the universe is early 2000’s top 40 rock.

"He doesn't know what I know about the Parliament. About Rabum Alal. About what they did to my world. How do you think we got extra-dimensional technology?"

Elise suddenly grabs Bob by the lapels, desperate. There's no teeth to it; she's under half his size. "Bob, you gotta help me. You have to tell me everything."

"Alright, well, you come with me then," he says. "And listen, understand. I only kept this secret because...because I was afraid. I was afraid if Vlad knew, if Doom knew...then exactly what was gonna fuckin' happen, would fuckin' happen.

"I was afraid of this. Afraid of what would happen if he knew. We gotta talk to Clay."

Bob barges into Clay's office with Elise. The door was locked. Bob kicked it open.

Ryann leaps to his feet. "What the hell?! Who is this?"

Clay stands too, and motions for Ryann to stand down. "This is Agent Robert Childan."

"Bob," Centurion mouths to himself.

"And me." Elise pipes in. "It's about Vlad, Clay."

Bob moves up to Clay’s desk. "Director, I gotta tell you everything I know. About the Parliament. About Rabum Alal. About what they did to my Earth."

Ryann stares. "Your Earth?"

"If Vlad has turned on us and joined up with them, we're in deep shit and I can't afford to keep anything from you. Only reason I did, sir, is because I was afraid that anything you'd know, Vlad would find out and if he did....well..."

Clay nods at Bob. "Sit down, Childan. Elise, you too."

Elise sits, setting her jaw stubbornly. "I'm going to get Vlad back."

"What is he talking about, Director?” Ryann says. “This is about the AI?"

"I'll explain, Valt."

Ryann sits back down

"Robert's from an alternate reality. A parallel Earth. His real name is Clint Barton. Robert Childan, Bob, that's his alias because we already have a Clint Barton on our world who is a world-famous superhero."

"Bob's reality is one where HYDRA helped the Nazis win World War II, and then HYDRA took over themselves and ran the place. The circumstances under which Bob ditched that Earth and joined STRIKE are....complicated and beyond the scope of this conversation."

"Ok, sure," Ryann says. He’s run out of incredulity.

Clay turns and looks at Bob. "What's this about the Parliament you didn't tell us before?"

Bob sighs. "You guys know that Rabum Alal is Doctor Doom by now, I guess. The Parliament, the guys who run it... they're Doctor Dooms. All of them. It's a Parliament of Dooms.

"I know this, because on my Earth, Victor Von Doom wasn't 'Doctor' Doom. Instead, he called himself 'Doomlord.' He took Latveria by force and turned it into a haven for gypsies and other... anyway."

Elise’s eyes widen. "Oh, shit, if I get married I'm never going to get to do an alien babe. ...When I get married. The sacrifices we make."

Clay gestures for Bob to continue.

"Doomlord was an enemy of the state. My team, the Avengers of my Earth, went after him more than once. Kept killing robot copies. Really frustrating. Point is, eventually he was approached by the Parliament and... he didn't join them.

"To be honest I always hated the guy but viewing him through the lens of this Earth.... Doomlord wasn't...a bad...person? Which is weird to think about. And so he told the Parliament to blow it out their ass. More than that, he declared war on them.

"I guess there's two kinds of Victor Von Dooms in the multiverse; those who join the Parliament, and those who like... take its existence personally? And hate them? And want to destroy them?

“Like there's that one Earth, right...uh...I can't remember the number. ARMOR found it, the blown up one. That world, that Doom blew it up as a fuck-you to both the Council and the Parliament, and that's how it goes.

"On my Earth, the Parliament eventually killed Doomlord when Baron Von Strucker made a deal with them. That's how we got interdimensional travel tech."

Clay sits back in his chair. "We still have Strucker imprisoned in a black site."

Bob is taken aback. "What... seriously?"

Clay nods.

Bob leans forward. "He knows shit. About the Parliament. He worked with them. Cut a deal with them to fuck over Doomlord. Interrogate him about the Parliament.

"Also... if Vlad got the nod, in this world? Then your Victor Von Doom didn't. And he'll be pissed."

"He didn't. They said that. And..." Elise shifts in her chair. "I'm going to use that when I talk to Doom. Clay, if the situation is this perilous, we need someone in Castle Doom, at least part time."

Bob is very uncomfortable with that idea. But Elise can tell part of that is he's afraid of Doom.

"I... It should be me," Elise says. "If we're going to stop this world from getting nuked and the Parliament stopped, we need an Agent of Doom, Clay."

Bob nods. "I...I hate that guy but he'll absolutely throw in, 100%, against the Parliament. Someone tells him what happened with Vlad, that the Parliament passed him up? That's some....on my world we have a phrase. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my weapon.’"

"...Ugh." Elise grips the sides of her chair, fully expecting Clay to stop her, but pushing on,anyways. "I'm going to do my best to get Vlad back, Clay. He was there with me, when I woke up in Attilan. I can't leave him."

Clay nods. "Talk to Susan. Work with WHISPER. Keep me informed."

"Seriously? It's that easy?"

"On this, yes," he says.

"We went from 'I'll talk to Doom' to 'I'll be an Agent of Doom' in one conversation? You trust me that much?"

"Yes."

"...Oh," she says.

"You're also atrocious at keeping secrets from me so you won't be able to double-cross me and Doom can't turn you against me, so,” he shrugs. "I feel comfortable with this."

"Oh my God Clay I thought we were about to have a moment."

"Alright, well, I gotta ask since I'm learning so much today. Are there any other burning secrets you'd like to fill me in on? As a team member and all?" Ryann looks at Clay.

Elise bobs in her seat. "Oh! My marriage is to the princess of Attilan! It nearly started a civil war!"

"Interesting," Ryann says. He keeps looking at Clay.

"There's still room on my invitation list!" Elise adds.

"Send it to SWORD, they’ll get it to me," Ryann says, still looking at Clay. Clay’s brow is furrowed; he’s genuinely trying to think about Ryann’s question.

Bob looks at Elise. "Hey, so if you marry her, do you get to be a princess? Is that how it works? Like do you marry into it?"

"I think I get some other title." Elise texts Crys. HEY DO I GET A ROYAL TITLE LIKE PRINCESS ELISE?

Clay says "Oh, the Phoenix Force is on Earth, and you just worked with him." He says this like one does about forgotten eggs or milk.

Ryann snaps his fingers. “I knew it!"

"What gave it away, was it the hair gel?" Elise says. "The tight pants?"

"This place is a madhouse," Ryann breathes.

Clay shrugs. "I would say you get used to it, but that too would be a lie, lad."

Elise is watching her phone like a hawk. "Hey, Bob, you wanna come to my wedding?"

"Do I!" Bob grins. "Do I get a plus-one?"

She nods at Bob. "Yeah okay, who're you bringing?"

He grimaces. "Uh...I dunno, I'll figure that out. Sometimes I shoot first and aim later."

“Can't be worse than Carol Danvers."

Bob snickers. "No, no it cannot."

With her phone still out, Elise shoots Miles a text as well. Do you want to be my best man? Miles texts back a thumbs-up.

Ryann pulls his hand down over his face. "I assume you told Nova Prime about the Phoenix Force," he says to Clay.

"....yes?" Clay shrugs.

Elise perks up . "Oh! Did you tell him about Doctor Strange?" Elise has texted Crystal twenty question mark emojis in a row.

Clay sighs. “Elise, why."

Ryann sighs too. "I was about to thank you for making my report short..."

"Why what?" Elise asks.

"Just, why."

"Doctor Strange seems important," she says. "I mean, he wears a cape, like, everywhere. I feel like that alone is worth reporting on in the year of our lord 2017. Like, holy shit, he doesn't know what shirts are. And Nova Prime will be like, holy shit, does he sleep in the cape? And you can be like, yeah, he probably does."

Ryann nods slowly. "Yeah, we don't wear capes..."

"See?” Elise waves a hand at Ryann. “The cape thing is weird."

Crystal texts back. You would be Royal Consort and also you would be Princess of my house because your own house has no standing in Attilan.

"Or maybe we'll have to walk up to, like, Kisslor, the Bride Blesser. I don't fucking know, the city's weird. Of course once we're done with the ceremony I'm gonna do a whole lot more than kiss the bride." Elise makes a lewd gesture with her hands. She whirls on Ryann. "Are you coming to the wedding?”

"By the Force. Yes, fine. Like I did save your life and all, I might as well go to an open bar in a city on the moon." He laughs and shakes his head.

"Yesssssssssss." Elise finger guns at Centurion.

Ryann rubs his temple. "This day. Whoa."

"Alright, kids, out of my office, I got work to do." Clay stands and makes a shooing gesture. "Bob, tell one of the SEC guys I need a new door."

Elise stops. "Wait! Can I book a week of vacation time after the wedding so I can fuck my wife?"

"Yes. Approved. Don't ask me like that ever again."

Elise cackles as she turns to go. Shaking his head, Ryann follows her. Bob nods, salutes, and turns to go.

"Oh, Bob."

Bob stops and looks at Clay.

"What happened with the Watchdogs?"

Bob shrugs. "Oh, I killed all of 'em. Got rid of the bodies, clean op, boss."

So as I have been reviewing the Actual Play, I like to think more about the kind of music that fits Julian and what he listens to.

Much in the same way as I'll listen to music I feel like relates to my life, I like to put together songs that relate to what Julian is going through, what he's stressed about, what he's celebrating.

Oftentimes I like to put together background listening as well that is just a sort of representation of his mental state.

Struggles
These are the songs Julian listens to when he's feeling low and frustrated - dealing with a bad situation, the sting of some failure, maybe anxiety over his loss of control or hesitation - anything that brings him down.

It Ain't Easy - David Bowie

Desperation - Steppenwolf

Starless - King Crimson

Giant - The The
When Julian succumbs to the Phoenix Force, I feel like there's an element of depersonalization there, and I think this song fits it very well.

Always Crashing in the Same Car - David Bowie
Julian has frequently choked when psychic intervention has been needed, and his repeated missteps wear on him. I always thought this song fit great for that.

Kane
As Julian grows closer with Isabel, these songs serve as a reminder of what she means to him, for all the joys and fears that come with their relationship.

Sunspots - Julian Cope

Dizzy - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Melancholy and dreamy. I love this song on its own. I think it's a great song for that kind of fluttery, dazed feeling Julian surely gets.

Song of the Magician - Tim Buckley

Late Night - Syd Barrett

Phoenix
When I think of Julian's relationship with the Phoenix Force, this is the music that comes to mind.

To elaborate, the Phoenix Force taking over is something that Julian learns to rely on at first but soon grows to fear. It urges him to do things in desperate situations. He is a force of destruction when he lets go of the reins. The tracks I've selected regarding the Phoenix Force are mostly rock music to fit with the action that surely follows as Julian tears a fiery swath through everything in sight. That said, the stuff that's a real treat for me are the selections that I like to represent as Julian's total loss of control, even stuff representing a loosening grip on his sanity if only in the moment.

Cut My Friends Down - Julian Cope
This song goes places and I like to think of it as the top song that represents Julian and the Phoenix Force. There are oddities to it that seem like a miraculous coincidence that it'd be perfect for Julian. I tend to play Julian as a bit sarcastic and quippy - he's amiable enough to the team but on his own time he's more often closing himself off to his music. The melancholy feel of the beginning I feel fits his darker moods, when he's beating down on himself for not having the kind of control he needs to have. The crazed begging - "Please don't take my life away!!" - nothing works so good for me like this song does here.

In all seriousness, when I see the early part of this song's lyrics I see the reference "Get my ass back to the edge," and yet it sounds exactly like "Get my ass back to the egg" to me and I just think of an embryonic egg state the Phoenix must form into at some point during rebirth. It feels sort of insane to explain it, but then again this is a Julian Cope track, so I guess that's only appropriate. I found this song totally by accident well into the campaign, and yet this song just represents Julian's mental state to me perfectly when it comes to the way the Phoenix tries to take over.

Elise elbows Ryann and raises her eyebrows, lowering her voice. "You know, Sigrun and I kind of had a thing at one point." He nods understanding.

Miles smiles broadly. "I like this. Partying on Earth could have problems. Somebody blabs a secret, uses a power....but nobody in Asgard cares about that shit! This is actually a really good idea!"

Elise produces a joint from her coat and wiggles it at Miles. "Yesss, yesss, have some fun, Miles."

Julian nods his head in agreement, slowly bobbing with more speed. "Yeah...yeah! We could really cut loose..." Ryann nods agreement with this.

"Also,” Elise notes, “I'm banned from a lot of places in the city."

Sigrun nods. "Wonderful. We will avoid using the Bifrost. It is rather...overt as a method of travelling in the midst of the city. There are more discreet ways in and out of Asgard known to my order. Follow me." She heads for the elevator. Elise trots after her, humming the classic Earth song “Because I Got High.”

Centurion walks up from behind and snatches the flask out from Elise's hand. He takes a long swig and hands it back as Elise grins appreciatively. "All right," he says. "It's your big night."

Elise nods. "Technically, the wedding may be a bigger night, but this night is...also big."

"I remember when the boys in the Corps took me to Sakkar for mine. Now that's a wild planet," Ryann chuckles, shaking his head.

Sakaar, seen in Thor: Ragnarok, is a free-for-all galactic arena planet run by an enigmatic cosmic being called The Gamesmaster.

"Oh, shit, you're married?"

"Oh? Yeah," Ryann smiles. "Been for about 15 years now. Kaat, she lives on Xandar with my son Danniel."

"Oh, cool." Elise has run out of conversation about families. "That's nice."

"C'mon." Sigrun pats the trailing SEC agent on the head as she leads the team out of the tower. He sighs.

"X-51," Miles says, "tonight's going to be an adventure we're all going to want to remember. Can you cross-reference with some books and webpages about photographic composition and use those to generate an appropriate selection of photographic stills of the evening's activities as the night goes on?"

Yes, sir.

"Thank you. You know, this makes you an indispensable part of the party experience, X-51. It's a weighty responsibility but I know you're good for it."

"Sooo, Sigrun." Elise trots at her side, struggling to match her long legs. "Are you and Michael, like - a thing, now?"

Sigrun suddenly looks awkward. "Oh, uhhhh. Well, I haven't... we still need to..." she speaks very quietly, at a level only Elise can hear. "This party isn't all about you, let us say."

Elise leans up, eager to hear more. "Oh? Do you need a wing woman?"

"Perhaps."

"I can do that!"

Sigrun nods. "Thank you."

Ryann downloads his personal music to his wrist gauntlet. "I got music for tonight!" He smiles.

"Yeah,” Michael adds, “give us a sample of what Earth music you like."

"Sure!" Ryann moves to start up his playlist but at that moment the elevator dings. They’re on the ground floor.

Sigrun leads the team out of the building and down some back alleys to a wall covered in what looks like graffiti, but on closer look is actually Norse runes. She makes a series of hand signals against the wall, and a portal opens. "Follow me, and journey into mystery," she grins and raises her eyebrows rapidly.

Elise dives through the portal head first, with a call of "I love mysteryyyyy -"

Journey into Mystery is the title of the anthology comic where Thor debuted in 1963. Initially sharing its pages with other, random stories, his adventures eventually took over the comic entirely and it was renamed The Mighty Thor by the late 1960s.

They step out of a rough-hewn cave entrance, below a bridge leading into the city.

"Holy moly it is gorgeous here," Elise gapes.

Michael looks at Sigrun. "Yes it is."

Julian, Ryann, and Miles turn slow circles, staring at their surroundings. After a moment, Sigrun turns to face the group. "I had... made the assumption you would agree and prepared a hall and some guests and entertainers."

"Yessssssssssssss," Elise grins.

Sigrun leads the party through the streets of Asgard.

Michael has seen this before, but the mix of almost medieval architecture, fashion, weaponry, and so on with what is very obviously artfully concealed high technology is bewildering, reminding most of the party of Attilan. Elise pulls out her cell phone and starts snapping away in what she thinks is a stealthy way, while Ryann and Miles record images using their respective technologies.

"So, do you guys have like, mead here?" Elise looks up at Sigrun eagerly. "Or like giant legs of meat the size of my head?"

"The answer to both of those questions is yes."

Elise claps happily at this.

“Oh, shit. I need mead and a giant turkey leg,” Miles says.

Julian nods. "That sounds fantastic right about now."

"I'm gonna grab my wife something, be right back." Ryann steps away from the group and over to a vendor he saw selling trinkets. Julian and Miles trail in wake, looking for something for Isabel and Carol.

They’re in luck. The merchants of Asgard seem to accept both USD and Galactic Standard Units.

Elise elbows Michael in the ribs. "It looks like we're all getting something for our special ladies.”

"Yes, I should find something suitable," Michael says thoughtfully, rubbing his chin and surveying the selection. Shit, what do I get Sigrun? A new quiver? Armour polish?

After haggling with the merchant, Ryann returns with a small bracelet and a book of Asgardian poetry. He places them in his duffel bag.

Nearby, Julian is telling a merchant “I want the ‘spaciest’ thing I can find. Maybe some kind of bismuth-y looking jewelry? Something clearly from Asgard.” He does not make any attempt to haggle and gets taken like a sucker.

Elise grabs a pearl necklace for Crys, makes eye contact with Miles, and raises her eyebrows and grins. Miles waggles his eyebrows back at her.

"Sooo, are you still bringing Carol?" she says. "Or did you two break up, or maybe she died, or she uh, broke her legs, or -"

Miles heaves a sigh. "Carol's never done anything to you, Elise. And she's coming to show her support. And her legs are indestructible." He heaves a different kind of sigh at this.

"They're pretty sturd- wait, why am I arguing this with you? She's coming and you'll find it in yourself to be nice."

"Pfft, or what?" Elise says.

Sigrun puts her hand on Elise's shoulder. "In Asgard, we invite even our hated enemies to our weddings, and treat them with dignity and respect. To do so is almost a challenge in and of itself, and the expectation is for the respect to be returned, lest a bloody battle break out in violation of all sacred custom."

"Anyway, Carol's not your enemy!” Miles says. “She helped you find Attilan. This whole thing is happening in part because of her. So, I mean, I feel like you can forgive that she didn't want to ride in your demon tit van."

"Fine. Okay. I'll be nice, but only if you get her to be nice to me too." Elise pauses. "In retrospect, The Van was kind of gross. I set it on fire and drove it into a lake."

Sigrun gestures to the team. "Come, to the great hall." She leads the team through the streets of Asgard into a massive, beautiful park.

They follow her into a great hall. There are musicians, servers, and other guests milling around. They greet the team warmly, cheering for Elise.

Elise grins. She loves being the center of attention.

Sigrun gestures to the table in the center of the room. "Please, drink and be merry, the food will be along shortly. Ryann, the bards will happily play music of your suggestion, they are quite familiar with Earth music."

"Whoa, the Asgardian musicians can play Earth tunes?" Miles racks his brain, struck with choice paralysis. He cups a hand to his mouth and hollers. "Do you know 'White Wedding'?" he calls.

The bards nod and begin playing.

Miles grins delightedly. "Holy shit," Michael says.

"Oh, nice! I got next!" Ryann grins.

Within thirty seconds of arriving Elise has acquired one mug of mead in each hand. "See, isn't it nice to just be able to do something like this without hanging out in Battleworld or being chased by Kraven or whatever the fuck?” She takes a sip from one mug and then the other. “Like, what could possibly go wrong?"

Sigrun raises a glass. "A toast to the bride-to-be!"

Ryann raises his cup. "To the bride!" Michael and Julian follow suit.

Miles pounds the table. "Hear, hear!"

Elise blushes.

Ryann takes a long drink, eyes sparkling over the top of his mug; he’s enjoying his new assignment a lot more than he thought he would. "Whoa," he says, stepping back from the table shakily. "Damn." The mead is also stronger than he thought it would be.

X-51 intones in Miles' mind. Sir, this mead is extremely potent.

Just what the doctor ordered. Thanks, X-51. Miles drinks deeply.

Also, your blood serum levels of oxytocin are skyrocketing at a rate that is abnormal and inconsistent with what you have just imbibed or your normal neuro-chemical profile and appear to be building specifically towards Sigrun. In accordance with the Lorelei Protocol, I have logged this alteration to your neuro-chemistry as unusual.

Do you wish to become sexually attracted to Sigrun?

Miles opens his mouth. I...yes? He only understood about half of that.

Very good, sir. Should I continue to monitor this situation as unusual or disregard further alterations to your neuro-chemistry towards Sigrun as you become more intoxicated?

Miles furrows his brow. This is all very confusing right now. Keep, uh. Keep on...doin' your thing.

Between games, I had told Matt that Miles was going to set something up with X-51 to allow the VI to take over if Miles became mind-controlled or otherwise mentally impaired. This is Matt giving me a chance to use that; I chose to turn the opportunity down, because I wanted to see where this would go, because I thought Miles’ immediate, unthinking answer to the question “do you want to become sexually attracted to Sigrun” would be yes, and because a story about a bachelor party should be filled with poor decisions.

Ryann takes another swig. "Ok, ok. I'm making a request." He stands up and strides over to the band. The team sees him tell them something and he runs back over. "Man, this band knows everything!"

As the current song wraps up, he holds up his hands to the group for attention. "Wait for it..."

"Y'know what sucks some major shit?" There's a slight slur to Elise's words now. "That Vlad won't be here tomorrow. He'll be in space.” She pauses. “Or the cosmos? Between dimensions?"

Miles frowns slightly at this, but says nothing. Instead, he puts on his winningest smile and turns to face Sigrun with a hand over his heart. "My lady Sigrun, has anyone told you tonight that you are the most - “

The bards begin the new song.

“- what the fuck," Miles’ head spins to face them, eyes widening in surprise and pleasure.

Michael looks at Ryann. "Nice." Then he looks at Miles leaning towards Sigrun. "Sorry, what?"

"Oh hey!" Elise claps. "I know the Foo Fighters! I like the Foo Fighters!" She fumbles out her phone and begins trying to film the performance.

Ryann nods happily. "Now, this...this is good music.” He takes another drink. “Earth kinda peaked musically in the 2000s.”

Julian looks legitimately affronted. "70s."

Ryann scoffs. "You're kidding, right?"

Sigrun sits down at the table and smiles, steepling her fingers. "So, we're friends, right? We've put the whole business where I tried to kill all of you behind us, yes?"

Michael waves this off. "Water under the Bifrost."

"Oh, gosh, I was over that as soon as I saw your thighs, like, pow! And I thought we could date, but, y'know -" Elise is drunk.

Miles slams his mug on his table. "That was ages ago," he says with passion to Sigrun, then his head swivels to see what Ryann and Julian are yelling about.

"The 2000s by light years!" Centurion is saying heatedly.

Julian shakes his head. "I'll allow that there are good hits after, but the 70s are like, the best overall decade, come on!" He takes a massive swig of his mead.

Sigrun speaks very quietly under the sound of the music, so only the people at the table can hear. "I need you to help me with something.